Supergirl Earth 21
by carzyfan
Summary: Winn and Kara both have demons from their past and as Kara starts to feel like her world is falling apart again, she finds herself relying more and more on Winn. Slow burn Winnara. New chapter every Friday (or so). Like and/or follow for more chapters!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One:

Meet Kara Danvers...Kara Zor-el...Supergirl

Kara didn't hate her job, it could open doors in becoming a reporter, there was Winn, one of her best friends (if sisters didn't count, Winn was her only friend), and she worked for Cat Grant, a woman who built an print and online news empire. But then there were the cons, one Ms. Grant never remembered her name, two she was in complete agony by the work Ms. Grant gave her, and three she was an alien trying to live a human life. Alien, huh, that was one of the constants in her life along with the daily threats against her employment as Ms. Grant's assistant.

She snapped back from her dreary daydreaming when the elevator door dinged and opened, too slowly for Kara, the latte she was holding getting colder with each passing second and the cramped public elevator filled with hot air. She quickly slipped out trying to not splash around the latte too much. Waiting for her was Winn and she smiled as they walked towards their desks.

"Did you see this? There was an armored car robbery last night. There were no witnesses except for this homeless guy - who swears the perp had horns." Winn said, showing her the article on his iPad as they weaved through the desks. Kara glanced at the screen, only to quickly skim through it.

"Thanks." She said as a man handed her a file for Cat, her boss.

Like on his head!" Winn said, making Kara wonder _where else would horns go?_ "I'm telling you, they're out there."

 _Or right next to you._ "Aliens! Winn, there's no such thing as aliens." Once again, Kara pondered telling Winn she was an alien, something she told everyone didn't exist.

"Well, you might feel differently if you read this website." he said pointing to the url for the website on the screen as they neared their desks.

She quickly disregarded him (though she did read it once or twice, not that she would tell Winn) saying, "You write that website." she said, setting down the latte and her bag on her desk before leaning back on the desk as she talked with Winn.

"I contribute," he said, stuttering, "Hey, um, I was wondering if maybe you wanna… I don't know, go see - go see movie tonight?" he scratched the back of his head, slightly more nervous than he was normally (not that Kara noticed).

She stopped, her brain freezing over and slowing her thought process, she suddenly blushed and stuttered, "I'm-m c-cat sitting for one of my neighbors but you-you could come over and we could binge watch this new show I-I be-been wanting to see." She stopped with her mouth slightly open which she snapped close after she regained feeling in her entire body except her legs, still refusing to become more solid than their current state Jell-o. She smiled at him, not knowing what to say, even if she did having her brain frozen over would have made it impossible.

He started to reply, "Great, I'll come over with the pot stickers and pizza. You just make sure keep the cat away from me, I'm allergic it anything with hair… not humans j-just pets and stuff-" he floundered.

Kara coming to his rescue, "Ok, don't worry, it's furless, which in the case of its looks does not help any."

Suddenly she heard Ms. Grant in her private elevator, luckily she almost always complained to herself, "Ugh, this elevator is a human petri-dish. It's like standing up in coach."

Kara, fortunately for their conversation, called out to the entire office "She's here." The normally coffee-rushed office went up in chaos as people scrambled to get to their desks or finish their work.

"How do you do that?" Winn asked, as both him and Kara stood up to greet Cat Grant.

"Good morning, Miss Grant." Everyone said as the elevator doors opened and Kara grabbed the latte for her.

"The only reason I bought this building was because it had a private elevator. That way, I don't have to get soaked in cheap cologne every morning, getting to my office. Find out who used it, have them reprimanded, or bathed, I don't care which." Cat Grant told Kara, who quickly scribbled down her demands, fumbling between holding the latte, the notebook, and writing everything down.

"Here's your latte. Hot." Kara said as she followed her boss into her office, handing the latte over to her.

Cat sighed, "That'll be new and different." She took one sip, then dropped the latte into the trash can and sat down. "I have a meeting with the board today at lunch, so cancel sushi with my mother. Oh, and cancel my therapist. I won't be needing it if I'm not having lunch with my mother."

Kara continued to write down everything she said, and said "Got it."

Cat continued to speak, "Also, I've emailed a list. Prepare termination letters for the Tribune employees as noted. But it would be so nice if you handwrote them. Use the lesser card stock."

Kara frowned, "You're downsizing the Tribune? But that was your first acquisition."

"Go see if the new art director has the layout ready." she stopped talking, waiting for Kara to leave "It's not that I don't see your frown, it's just that I don't care enough to ask why it's there."

"All those people, they're going to lose their jobs." she put on her brave face and ventured, dangerously close to the line of being fired, "What's going to happen to them, to their families? They don't have to downsize at the Daily Planet."  
"Metropolis has a person who wears a cape and flies around performing heroic acts. The Planet puts this superlative man on their cover 54% of the time. You wanna save the Trib? Go find me a hero, Kerah." she glared at Kara, signaling 'leave or get ripped to shreds'.  
Kara said, very softly as she left correcting Cat's interpretation of her name, "Kara."

~{}~

Kara entered the office of the new art director, the old one quitting after Cat made one too many complaints about his choices for pictures and graphics. There were a few boxes, apparently the art director was a bit slow making his office his own. Kara called out "Hello?"

The art director replied from the other side of a few boxes, "I'll be just a minute." His head popped up and smiled at her.

Kara, getting a little impatient (god, Cat was rubbing off on her!) said "Miss Grant sent me for layouts and she doesn't like to wait."

He replied, with a little sass, also Grant-like, "Well, she can wait a minute."

Kara stepping forward, she wasn't liking this guy. "Have you met Miss Grant?"

He stood up, giving Kara his complete attention at last. "Yeah, what is she gonna do? Fire me right after hiring me? Her loss."

 _She's done it before._

Then he noticed Kara as a guy seeing a girl, "Hey. I'm the new guy." he said smiling at her right after low-key getting into a fight with her.

 _Ugh, men._ She was glad Winn wasn't like this. He was a guy but he didn't hit on a girl just because. Then she saw his face, shocked her eyes widened just slightly, _oh, god I just thought-insulted Jimmy Olsen! Miss Grant is starting to really start to rub off on me!_

"Oh, my God, you're Jimmy Olsen. The photographer from the Daily Planet." She said, taking a step back.

"It's James Olsen. Only my mom and super pal call me Jimmy." James said, taking a step forward.

 _Right, he knows Kal-el … Clark. Did he set this up?_

"Oh, here you go, but first you have to tell me who you are." he replied, waving the layouts in front of her.

"It's Kara, I'm Miss Grant's personal assistant." She said as James handed her the layouts.

"See you around, Kara." He called as she left, as quick as she could.

God. She walked towards her desk after she gave Cat the layouts, almost bursting to tell Winn who the new art director was.

~{}~

Kara opened her door, her foster sister standing outside, with a rather grumpy look on her face. "I have a conference in Geneva and I need to be on the plane in two hours." Alex said walking past Kara into her loft.

Kara closed the door and challenged Alex's complaint. "And I have Winn coming over in fifteen minute to watch Netflix and I need you to pick out what I should wear. I win." Alex turned around the grumpy face replaced with one of interest, she quickly walked over to her racks of clothes. She had always wanted her to invite Winn over for reasons Alex wouldn't tell. She thought it was because the one time she got drunk (by drinking several bottles of rubbing alcohol) and she had told Alex how she had met the cutest and nicest guy at work (After a week of Cat, Kara for once in her life wanted to get shitfaced drunk, so Alex and Kara found a way, Kara never wanted to do that again, super hearing with a hangover was not as fun as the night before).

"Why do you do this to me?"

"Because I'm your sister and you love me." After a while Alex asked why she hadn't been as cheerful as normal. "I don't know, I feel like I'm not living up to my potential. I went to work for Cat Grant because I thought working in a media company run by a powerful woman who actually shapes the way people think would be the way that I could make a difference. But, instead, I just fetch layouts and coffee.  
"You always wanted to be normal, right? So, having a crappy boss and absolutely nothing to wear - This is what normal looks like." Alex said moving to another clothes rack, disdain with her clothing very evident.  
"I am not normal! I have the same powers he does. I can lift a bus, stop a bullet. Alex, I can fly. At least, I think I can. I haven't done it in years." Kara said, following Alex from rack to rack.  
"Kara, you've got a good job, you're cute, and thanks to your alien DNA - you can't get pimples. Life is not so bad." She stopped and faced her alien sister, "But, if you really wanna help somebody, you'll pick between one of these two, so I can get on my plane."

"Uh…yep." Kara picked the pink sundress. Alex handed her the other choice, a beautiful blue blouse with yoga pants (Cat would kill her if she wore this to work) and she took the other one and threw it in the garbage can, not that she complained, it was a thrift store buy from 3 years ago.

"Good choice." ALex said. "When in doubt, go with blue, it is your color. All right. Text me every detail from your movie date with Winn and I will call you back when I'm back from Geneva." She quickly kissed Kara on the cheek. As she left the apartment building, Alex saw Winn get out of his car with a pizza and pot stickers. He looked nervous but so did Kara who was no doubt freaking out upstairs.

~{}~

Kara could hear Winn heartbeat, very fast just like her own, she guessed he was nervous too. She briefly wondered if Alex had given her 'big sister' talk (funny since kara was technically a lot older than herself) when she left but she didn't have a lot of time to think since Winn quickly knocked on the door. She smoothed her hair before opening the door and greeting Winn with a smile and hungry look at large box of pot stickers and pizza.

"So…" Winn said after they both had wolfed down all the pot stickers and pizza. Both had big appetites, Kara a necessity because of her alien biology and Winn by choice, however neither gained any weight.

"So what?" Kara said, while getting out some ice cream. "Chocolate, vanilla or strawberry?"

"Chocolate. So what do you think might happen to James Olsen. After you left, Cat called James over to her office then gave her 'cat' glare and yelled at him a little but Cat didn't fire him." Kara threw the jar of ice cream to Winn and then walked over and handed him a spoon.

"What? That's a first. Cat yelling and not firing. Someone must have pulled in a favor or something." Kara said, wondering if Clark did something to help out his friend. She moved to her couch with Winn quickly following. She turned on the TV, a news report on.

"If you're just joining us, shortly after take-off, National City Airlines, Flight 237 bound for Geneva, is experiencing some loss of altitude. The pilot seems to be circling the city after apparent engine failure."

"Did he say Geneva? Alex." she whispered more to herself then more loudly, "um, I just remembered I have to feed the cat and let it out, it won't go in a litter box."

"O-oh, ok." Winn said as she darted out. She didn't want to leave but she had to save her foster sister, Alex.

Kara ran out of the apartment building and into the alley, she ran as she tried to fly, jumped up an impossible distance before she finally stayed in the air. She zoomed to the crashing airplane and grabbed the bottom of the airplane, just as another engine burst into flames. She heard people scream in terror as the bumpy ride got even bumpier. Kara yelled into effort, the plane she was carrying was leveling off. She thought that saving a plane was pretty easy… then she saw the bridge.

"Oh, come on!" she started tilting the plane, more screams of terror as the plane went sideways. She grunted with the effort, and her hands made indents into the plane itself. The plane narrowly missed the top of the bridge, one wing etching a line on the bridge below, luckily missing any cars stuck on the bridge. She landed the plane in the water and climb on top of the wing, she looked around then flew off.

~{}~

When Kara got back, soaking wet, she made up a very cheesy excuse saying that the cat jumped into a pond, the best she could come up with at the time. Luckily, Winn was kind enough not to pester her, choosing instead to tell her what happened on TV while she was gone. Winn left soon after, his apartment only being about a block away, wanting to get home and catch up on work (what work a IT got at a media empire she didn't know.). She turned on the TV watch the latest report on the plane _she_ saved.

"The passengers of Flight 237 appear to have a guardian angel. When, what many report to be a female flying form-" Kara squealed in happiness, no wonder Clark was a superhero, it was very rewarding. "-rescued them from certain death. Leyne Nguyen is live from the scene." the screen changed, with the bridge in the background now cleared of cars.  
"Thank you, Rick. Guardian angel or human wrecking ball?"

"What?!" Kara jumped up from the couch, yelling at the news reporter.

"There is destruction all over Otter Binder Bridge." The reporter continued.

"Well, You try saving a plane for the first time. See of you don't make a mess." She said as the TV screen turned blank. She turned around to see her sister.

"Oh, my God." ALex said as Kara walk toward her.

"I know!" Kara walked over to her sister, grinning like mad. "It's incredible!"

She hugged her sister, with a little more force than human. "Ow." Her sister said, Kara didn't need super hearing to hear sme bones popping, her sister must be really stressed.

"Oh, sorry." Kara said sheepishly, "That was-that was too hard. I'm just so excited. I still can't believe I did it." she said sitting down on the couch.

"Yeah. Neither can I." Alex said, her face filled with worry for her sister. "Are you okay?"

"Me? Am I okay? Are you okay?" Kara said, fidgeting around, too happy and excited to stay still.

"Yes, thank you." Alex said, strangely formal and back rigid.

"Were you scared? I mean, I was scared too, but you; you had to be terrified. Because you had no idea I was coming to save you." Kara said, getting up from sitting on the couch.

Alex turned around and sighed, "I need a drink."

"Right!" Kara said, walking into the kitchen, and pouring a glass of alcohol for her sister. Alex chugged it down. "Yeah, we need to celebrate. It has been so long. I almost forgot how to fly. Well, not so much as how but more, more how it feels, like scared, but good scared. Like, like that moment right before you kiss someone for the first time. And now… now it' like I'm not sure what comes next. Or maybe I am sure and I'm just afraid of what it means." Kara paused then stated again, "And if it means what I think it means-"

"WHat were you thinking?" ALex scoffed, "you exposed yourself. To the world. You're out there now, Kara. Everyone will know about you and you can't take that back."

"I don't want to. This is what I was talking about, Alex. I've always felt the need to help people, and tonight I finally got that chance. I-I didn't travel 2,000 light-years just to be an assistant."

"What if people figure out who you are? What you are? It's just- it's not safe for you to do anything like that." Alex put down the now empty glass. She looked her sister into the eyes, "Ever again."

"Oh." Kara said, glancing down at her feet. "I'm kind of tired, I-I just carried a plane on my back. I'm gonna go to bed. You should go." She said, the last sentence said with a glare.

Her sister sighed, "Don't say I didn't warn you."

~{}~

Kara walked out of the elevator, trying keep as small as possible. Her ears still rang with Alex's warning, she knew no one got a clear shot of her but someone might make a wild guess. Luckily no one noticed her (like normal). She quickly walked to her desk, glancing at Winn, who was riveted into the news. "Pretty cool, huh?"

Winn scoffed, "A plane-saving lady? How is the world supposed to take her seriously if she can't even come up with a suit? What Metropolis gets him and what does National City get? Some rookie superhero?

Kara told herself if Winn knew that she was her, he wouldn't have such thoughts, or at least, keep them to himself.

"I know many of you are used to being second best but it's new to me. The most incredible event in the history of National City and yet we have no exclusive of any kind." Cat said, she had called an emergency meeting, and Kara had raced to get all the directors from the 30 floors of the Catco building."  
"We don't have much to go on." Cat glared at the director making the excuse.  
"The image we're working off is low res I guess she's around 5'9" It's tough to gauge with her height measured up against an airplane." the director raced to present her with the facts.  
"Hair color brown."  
"Or black."

"Or maybe her hair is just dirty. You know, from soot. The plane exhaust." James arriving late for the meeting, made the comment.  
"James, you make an excellent point." Cat said, however there was a disconnect between them, Cat never looking directly at him. "Do you think there's any connection - between this hero and -"

"To my friend in blue? I don't know. I mean, not that he mentioned, but if she's anything like him, she's a hero. Saving people is what they're born to do. She'll be back."  
"Hmm. She better be. This girl is the answer. She is exactly what I need to save the Tribune. Besides fatty foods, there is nothing people love more than a hero.  
We are going to blow her up. We will feature her online and in the paper, but we need images, we need video, we need an interview, and exclusive content. So go. Go get me that girl." Cat shooed them out of her office then went back to work. "And, Kerah. Go get me a lettuce wrap."  
"It's funny. That was the first thing he did. Save a plane, I mean." James said as Kara and him left Cat Grant's office. She blinked at him as he left to his office. Suddenly, she was overcome with the wanting to tell someone, anyone who she really was. Better Winn than anyone else.

She walked over to Winn's desk, who was casually searching the web. "Winn, I need to talk to you. On the roof."

"The roof?" Winn said as Kara left, straight to where they were going to meet.

"Kara? Hey, up, just whatever you have to say, can you make it quick? I'm not really into being this high up."

"Okay, um…" she only had about 5 minutes to prepare… not a lot to figure out how to tell her friend (crush) that she was an alien. "Winn, I'm going to tell you something about me that only three people in my life know…Can I trust you?

"Yeah, yeah, of course."  
"Good." she paced back and forth, her mind going blank. "Um, I just... I really want someone to be excited for me." More pacing. "And I, um... Right, how do... Uh, there's something about me that for most of my life, I've run from it. But last night, I embraced who I am and I don't want to stop." she said stopping her pacing and looking him in the eye.  
"Oh, my God, you're a lesbian. Oh, Kara, that's why you're not into me. This is, this is great news!" Winn said, rather happily, Kara might add.

"What? No. I'm not gay! I'm I'm her!" he didn't get her reference "The woman who saved the plane!"

"Okay. Yeah, okay." Winn said turning back to leave,  
"Right." she said as she walked to the edge of the building.  
"Kara, what are you doing? Hey, Kara! Hey, get away from the ledge, you're gonna get hurt." Winn walking toward her. "Kara!" Kara fell off the edge with an exasperated expression. "Hey!" Winn ran to the edge, knowing that she was mostly falling to her death. What he didn't expect was a pink and brown blur to come flying past him. Kara landed on the other side of Winn, who looked a little shocked "You're-You're her!"

"Yup." Kara said, raising her arm in an 'I don't know' way.

~{}~

"So, how is it? Huh? How does it fit?" Winn called, he had come over to help kara make a super suit (which Winn bluntly pointed ot she didn't' have).

Kara walked out, dressed in a blue, skin tight, swimsuit-like "super suit" with an underwear-like bottom. "I'm not flying around saving people in this... thing." She wrapped her arms around her belly, covering her more than the suit did. " I-I wouldn't even wear it to the beach. Where's my cape?" she asked, not wanting to wait another second in the suit.

"Capes are lame. You can tell your cousin I said so." He stopped, eating another bite of chinese take-out. "Actually, never-never do that." He said on a second thought.

Kara walked into her living room, 3 suit fails later. This one was the one, not too revealing but with a short skirt (something Winn said was a must). She gave a whirl, and then realized she still had her glasses. "Oh." she hesitated before taking them off. They were comfortable thing more than a disguise.

She looked up at Winn. "Kara, you look really pretty without your glasses." He said. Kara broke the silence by blushing and looking down at the ground. "So, uh. To be a superhero you need a crime. I hacked into the NCPD. There's a car chase on the 112 freeway."

"I could do a car chase." Kara said.

She quickly caught up with the car, she followed it but when it turned sharply she tried following but lost control, landing into the curb, _hard_ , she might add.

"A cape aids with aerodynamics, I should have thought of that." he said as Kara came out with the cape attached to the suit. Winn had gotten a radio, which was now, very loudly reporting crimes, 'West National City Bank. Reporting a 432. Sixth and Spring. Suspects are armed and dangerous.  
"You, uh You're sure you're bulletproof?" Winn said.

"Hope so." Kara said as she flew out the window

Kara came back from the robbery, with a cape filled with bullet-holes, which made Winn almost throw a fit.

"All right, the new cape is made from a structured polymer composite. It's much sturdier than And, uh" he chuckled, "This one has the "S." For "Super" just like your cousin."  
"It's not an "S". It's my family's coat of arms. The House of El." She looked back at Winn, "Thank you...for this… the suit… the help." She took a step forward, mirrored by Winn.

"Well, its nothing you wouldn't have… done… for… me." He said, as they neared each other.  
The radio went off again (with the worse timing in all time), 'Four-alarm fire at Gates and Igle.' They both took a few steps back, whatever trance telling Winn a snippet of her life of her homeworld had on them had been broken by the staticky voice of a backstreet cop.  
Winn cleared his throat, "I'm assuming you can't catch on fire."

~{}~

Suddenly, she was flying then she woke up dazed and confused, shackles around her wrists keeping her down. She tugged at them, surprised when they didn't break. She was starting to get worried, someone did their homework. "Made of low-grade Kryptonite. Radioactive mineral from your home planet. It weakens you." A man came into her view  
"Where Where am I? Who are you?" she asked, her mind still sluggish with whatever they used to drug her.

"Name is Hank Henshaw. And I believe you already know Agent Danvers." Wait, her sister? She was a scientist not an agent.  
"She doesn't need those." her sister came into her view, she undid the shackles and Kara recoiled from her. She lied. That much her mind could work out.  
"Welcome to the DEO, the Department of Extranormal Operations. The DEO monitors and protects Earth from extraterrestrial presence and/or invasion. That means you. Your ship. We keep it here as a reminder of the day you crashed on Earth. You're the reason for all of this." Hank said as she followed him, apparently giving her a tour.  
"Me? But My-but my cousin was here two dozen years before me." She said.  
"And it was his arrival that triggered the need for this organization. We realized we weren't alone in the universe and we might soon be getting more immigrants. Sure enough, you came along. And with you, Fort Rozz." he said walking towards a wall lined with screens, all showing images of a giant crashed-landed spaceship  
"Fort Rozz?" The name didn't sound familiar.

"Krypton's maximum security prison. Banished to the Phantom Zone, same place your ship got stuck. But just like yours, it didn't stay there. We're not sure how your pod got loose. What we do know is this. You pulled Fort Rozz with you. When it crashed, the alien convicts, the worst criminals in the galaxy, they all escaped. And you brought them here. These beings, some of them have powers from your darkest nightmares. For over a decade they've stayed hidden. But in the last year many have been emerging, making themselves known. They're planning something. We're just not sure what it is yet." photos of aliens replaced the spaceship, some she recognized, others were unfamiliar.  
"Your plane. That wasn't an accident. They were trying to kill you. I can help you stop them." She proposed a partnership between them.  
"How? You couldn't even stop us from capturing you. I'm still job is keeping people in the dark about alien life on Earth, and nothing says covert operation like a flying woman in a red skirt."  
"They know about my cousin, they don't fear him." she argued  
"Plenty of people do, just not popular to admit it. You wanna help? Go back to getting someone's coffee." She huffed as he walked away.  
"I know you're mad and you're hurt. I wanted to tell you every single day." Alex started to aplized.

"No, instead, you told me every single day not to be who I really am." she said.

"You have to listen to me." ALex tried again.  
"I can't! This just kind of feels like one big coincidence, doesn't it? You working here, hunting down aliens, me being one? I I can't help but think the real reason that you were recruited was because of me." Kara was starting to see red.  
"They recruited me because my background in bio-engineering makes me an expert on alien physiology. And, yeah, it helps that I shared a bathroom with one." Alex said, defending herself.  
"I'm leaving now. Unless you wanna try and stop me. Which I wouldn't." Kara said, leaving before she exploded at her sister.  
When she got back, Winn was freaking out, not having contact between them in over 3 hours. Kara told him about the DEO and the information, excluding her fight with her sister.

When Kara got into work the TV by the elevator was on, "Of course, leave it to media magnate, Cat Grant, to put a name to a face. Miss Grant dubbed National City's new female hero, 'Supergirl'. And if Twitter is any indicator, the name appears to be catching on."  
"'Supergirl'? We can't name her that!" Kara said to her boss, anger at her sister boiling over as she channelled it at Ms. Grant.

"'We' didn't." Cat said, not looking up from her work.  
"Right, I'm sorry. It's just, uh I don't want to minimize the importance of this. A-a female superhero. Shouldn't she be called Superwoman?" She said, trying to minimize the fact that she just exploded at her boss.

"I'm sorry, darling, I just can't hear you over the loud color of your cheap pants." Her boss insulted her, making her week just a bit more terrible.

"If we call her Supergirl, something less than what she is, doesn't that make us guilty of being anti-feminist? Didn't you say she was a hero?"

"I'm the hero. I stuck a label on the side of this girl, I branded her. She will forever be linked to Catco, to the Tribune, to me. And what do you think is so bad about 'Girl'? Huh? I'm a girl. And your boss, and powerful, and rich, and hot and smart. So if you perceive Supergirl as anything less than excellent, isn't the real problem you? And if you're so smart, Kerah, could you please give me one reason why I shouldn't fire you?"

 _Oh God. She really did it this time._

"I printed it. And it's an even higher resolution than you hoped for." James walked in, saving her, at least for a few minutes.  
"James. You are interrupting a very craftily worded termination."

"Kara wanted to surprise you, but she has a teller friend that works at West National City Bank - the branch that got robbed." he really was going to save her.  
"Right! Right, yes, I went there. You know, it took me a while to park my car in the streets. The one-way streets are so confusing." she said, not really knowing where this was going. "You tell it so much better."  
"Kara convinced her source to allow us to use a photograph that she captured." He showed Cat a image of Supergirl.  
"You got a clean image of Supergirl? Kerah, if you can't take credit when you do something well, you are gonna be at the bottom of the pile forever. But, mazel tov. You bought yourself another day." Cat shooed both of them out.  
"I was handling the situation." She said as they walked out.  
"Oh, yeah? What was your plan? To get yelled at and fired? 'Cause that was working."

"I don't need you or anyone else - fighting my battles for me."  
\- a high pitched squeal came across her hearing. She stopped by her desk, and put her hand over her forehead. _I'm communicating at 50,000 hertz. If you can hear this -_ "You okay?" James said _. - you were not born on this Earth.  
_ "I, uh Yeah, I-I have a headache. I need some water." _  
Painful, isn't it? The humans of National City will suffer. Meet me at the National City Power Plant.  
How many innocent people are going to die until you prove that you are not a coward Daughter of Alura? _

Kara landed at the Power plant, she tried using her x-ray vision but nothing happened. _Lead. "_ Clever. Picking a spot lined with lead. But I can still hear your heartbeat."  
Suddenly she was kicked in the back with enough force to send her flying. She looked up to see a man, not a man, an alien, an ax-wielding alien at that. "On my planet, females bow before males."  
"This is not your planet." she said, standing up.  
"You look like Alura." he said taking a step forward.  
"How do you know my mother's name?"

"You don't easily forget the name of the woman who condemned you to prison."

"Fort Rozz?"

"She was our judge and jailer. Can't kill her. So killing you will have to do." He said, as a full blown fight broke out between them, she kept getting thrown to the ground a lot. He was stronger than her. She didn't want to admit it but this time, she bit off more than she could chew.  
"Just because you wear that symbol on your chest doesn't mean you're him. Fighting him would be an honor. Fighting you is just exercise. You actually think that you could stop me? That you'd be able to stop any of us?"

The man threw his ax, Kara expecting it to bounce off her harmlessly but it cut through her suit and her flesh. She gasped and watched as blood dripped through suit and onto the ground.

"Now you know what it's like to bleed. Soon, your whole city will bleed." he gripped her throat, choking her. The edge of her vision turning black.  
She was never as glad to see her sister to come to her rescue.

"Trap One, pursue the hostile." She said, the man tried to flee.

"Hey, hey, I'm here. I got you, I got you."

"You're gonna be okay." Alex said as she took out the fragment that prevented Kara from healing the wound.  
"I never felt pain like that before." She said. "Uh, I've never felt pain."  
"You're not indestructible, Kara."  
"Nice move nearly letting that alien cut you in half." Hank said, glaring at Kara, who glared back.  
"If we can ID his weapon, it might give us a way to defeat him." Alex said, distracting them from the glaring contest.

"Look at that. You did help." Hank said as the results from the scan of the fragment came on the screen, he smiled, the first smile Kara had seen him have.  
"Did you know about my mom? That she was the one who locked up all those aliens?"

"It's why I didn't want you going out there. Showing yourself, showing this. The Fort Rozz escapees would give anything to get revenge on your mother and the only way that they can do that now is to hurt you. I'm trying to protect you."

"You were right." Kara said, turning to leave. "The world doesn't need me."  
"Kara, it's me." Alex knocked on her door, Kara was inside wallowing in self pity. "Can we talk? I know you can see me. I know what you're thinking. That this is all your fault. But it's not. Before you came to live with us, I was the star. And then, I mean, how could I compete with you? With someone who could touch the stars? You know, I was happy when you decided not to use your powers. You know, you feeling like less, somehow made me feel like more. Now the world needs you to fly, Kara."  
Kara opened the door "I can't, Alex. I can't do it."  
"Yeah, you family believes in you."  
"I know you do."  
"Oh, I don't mean me." Alex took out a slab of metal, etched with writing.  
"That's Kryptonese writing. Yeah." Kara took it and walked inside.  
"Hank and his old team recovered it from the pod that brought you to Earth." Alex followed her to the table. Kara pressed a button on the slab. A hologram showed up. It was her mother.

"Mom."

' _Kara, my brave daughter. By now you have become the woman I knew you would grow up to be. And though you were sent to Earth to protect young Kal-El, your destiny is not tied to his. There is no correct path in life. You will lose your way many times. What's important is that you find your way back to the brave girl you always were. Be wise, be strong and always be true to yourself.'_

Kara reached out wanting to touch her mother cheek, but the hologram disappeared, the recording over. She sobbed, her loss coming back as strong as it was when she first got to earth.

She cleared her head and she said "So, what do we do now? First things first."  
"You need to change." Alex said.

Hank chuckled, "It's Agent Danvers and her sister from another planet."  
"She's here to help us fight Vartox."  
"I told you I don't trust aliens." He growled at her.

"There's no one I trust more. Like her cousin, she was sent here, too, to help us. And if you want any more of my help, we're gonna let her." She said, her ultimatum standing strong.

An agent came up to them, stopping the conversation from getting worse."I found Vartox. Sir. Uh, ma'ams." She said, trying not to stare at supergirl.

"Where?" Hank said, demanding like always.

"The sliver of metal you extracted from Supergirl's arm. Vartox's ax has a unique nuclear thumbprint. Satellites picked him up heading towards the city."  
"Vartox said he was ready to start killing humans."  
"Order a strike team to intercept." Hank ordered.

"Your men will not be able to stop him." Kara said, facing Hank.

"Thank you for your opinion, Miss Danvers."  
"Director Henshaw. People of this city will die because of something I did. I started this. You have to let me stop it."

"Make sure you win." He sighed, knowing she was right.  
"Do you have eyes on the target?" Hank said over the speaker in her ear.

"I got him." She said as she landed in front of the truck, stopping it and throwing him out the window shield.

"You never should have come back for more." He said, standing up.  
They fought, Kara now wary of his ax, weaving around the weapon.

"She's not strong enough." Hank said, not caring that Kara still heard everything they said.  
Why? Because she's just a girl? It's exactly what we were counting on. I analyzed the metal on the ax. It's powered by a self-generating atomic charge reaching temperatures up to 2500 degrees."  
"How does that help?"

"If it gets any hotter than that it's gonna explode. She just has to get close enough to do her thing."

Kara was thrown to the ground, his strength overwhelming hers. He lifted his ax, preparing to kill her.  
"Stop, I give up. I don't wanna die." She said, 'faking' her being scared, she was a little (not that she was going to admit).  
"Give your mother my regards." He said, brought the ax down. She stopped it, blocking it from hitting her head.  
"Kara, do it now." Alex said in her head.  
Kara used her laser vision, the ax blade getting hot but not as hot a it needed to be. "It's not working. I can't do it!"

"It's why you were sent here. I believe that now, you have to believe it too."  
She screamed, max out her powers. The ax exploded. The alien was thrown back from the explosion. Kara got up, a bit slower than normal. She panted "It's over."

"You think I'm the threat?" He said, he shook his head. "You have no idea what's coming." He took a shard of his ax and stabbed himself, the way he took his own life shocked Kara. It was custom for his race, but not on Earth or Krypton.

~{}~

"Uh, if-if I believe the comments on the website, they mentioned a Female/reptilian boxing match in the desert." Winn said, he was waiting for Kara at work.

"I'll tell you all about it at our next crime-fighting lunch hour." She said weaving through desks and picking up documents for Cat.  
"Wait, so the Super Friends are back?"

"We're not calling ourselves that. And yes, we are back, baby." Kara said, smiling at him.

"James. Uh, do you have time to grab lunch?" She wanted to apologize for her rude comments after he saved her from Cat. They headed toward the elevator.

"You must be hungry." he said, walking into the elevator. "You probably burn up a lot of calories fighting an ax-wielding alien. Meet me on the roof." He said as the door closed.  
"You knew. This whole time. He told you.

"Well, he knew that I was trying to expand my own horizons, so, as a favor, he asked me to expand them here, National City. Hang out. Be near you."  
"So, so, wait a minute. He-He wanted me to do this? Why didn't he just tell me? Because he wanted you to choose it for yourself. The same way he did. That's what makes a hero, Kara. Here. From him. It's the blanket he was wrapped in when he was a baby. Apparently, this cape won't shred." She opened the box, and fingered the fabric, she remembered him being placed in the pod, wrapped in it.  
"Thank you." she said, and she really meant it.  
"He's really proud of you. Me too. Now, don't you have a city to protect? You know Up, up and away?" he pointed to the sky, and she flew up, just for show, she still needed to work.

~}{~

The End

Sorry it's so long, I promised the next one won't be as long, just a lot of content I wanted to change.

P.S. some scenes were omitted because I want to write through Kara's eyes. And I'm lazy.


	2. Chapter 2

Just so you know, every time I see this episode I yell stuff at the TV, and tankers in large tanks (tanker, tanks) separate from the hull of the ship. And ships hulls are built to withstand small to medium sized glaciers, they don't break that easily!

Chapter 2

Baby Steps First, Stand Strong Together

"Is that the fastest you can go?" Hank said, they were outside 'training' Kara.

"Are these tests mandatory for everyone or just because I'm a-"

It is not because you're a woman, Miss Danvers. The DEO requires rigorous physical and psychological evaluation for all its prospective field operatives."  
"I was gonna say alien."  
"A novice superhero could be a liability in a field. I need to know you're in full control of your powers. Stamina, strength, speed." Kara was getting impatient, she took on an extra burst of speed. A boom followed her. The planes of glass on the ground filled with formulas for her speed and strength shattered."  
"My sister just broke the sound barrier, sir." Alex said, glancing at the broken glass.  
"Fire again." He said, ignoring Alex.

Kara escaped the missiles and landed on the ground. "So, did I pass?"

"I see you share your cousin's appetite for wanton destruction, Miss Danvers."  
"You know, I am starting to answer to Supergirl." Hank glared at her. "It's cool, we'll We'll find our thing. Is all of this really necessary? I'm ready, Alex, for all of it. I can do this."

"Believe it or not, he's just looking out for you. You know, we both are. I had a full year of training before he even let me in the field. But I'm really glad that you're here, though. I hated keeping this whole part of my life from you."  
"And growing up, I always thought you were such a bad liar."

"That's what a good liar makes you think."  
"Supergirl." Winn's voice started in her head. "Come in, Supergirl."  
"Winn, what is it?" She said.  
"Kara, there is a huge fire raging down at the National City port. It is bad."  
"All right. I'm on my way." Kara said to Winn. "Fire at the port. Gotta go" She said to Alex..  
Hey, you've been dodging missiles and pushing your endurance for the last two hours. Even you have your limits.  
"For the last twelve years I hid who I was. I don't have to anymore. And I don't want to waste a minute of it. Besides, this sounds like a job for Supergirl." She jumped up, flying fast toward the port.  
What can I do, Chief?

"That ship's holding almost a million barrels of crude oil. If the fire reaches it, it's gonna go off like a two ton bomb. And the tugboat won't get here in time. What are you waiting for? Superman would've blown it out by now." She hating being compared to her cousin.  
"Right. Okay. Uh, you've got this." She took a deep breath and tried to blow out the fire, but only making it worse.  
"You're making it worse." the man said.  
"I'm going to try to move it." She ripped the ropes tying the ship to the dock. She gripped the top of the hull, leaving hand imprints as she tugged the ship away from the fire which threatened to burn the ship itself. She grunted then there was an awful crash. She stopped tugging and looked at the side of the boat. The tugboat was there! But it was sinking as it hit and scraped the hull of the boat. The crew looked in horror as they sunk, fast. Supergirl gasped and flew down, underneath the water and pushed up, she flew the smaller boat onto the dock and gently set it down.

"I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" She asked the crew, they were shaken up and soaking wet but none were injured. As she flew away she heard the fire captain said 'some superhero she is.'

'Miracle or menace? That's what the citizens of National City are asking themselves after the latest attempt at heroics by Supergirl who crashed a crude oil transport ship into a tugboat.' Kara was starting to hate that TV.

"Oh, God, is that smell you?" Winn said as he greeted Kara.

"Three showers and I still reek of burning oil. I went from superhero to ship-crasher in a single bound." She said, blushing as people's noses wrinkled when she walked past.  
"Hey, hey." He stopped Kara at her desk. "You're just, like, a week into this superhero thing, you're going to make some mistakes." he grinned and continued "Like, when you first started working here and Cat asked you to get her lunch and you went to Chipotle."  
"Yeah, except now I'm making mistakes in front of the whole world." she said as someone turned the volume up on one of the TV's above their heads.  
"Forget about Supergirl's lack of experience, I'm talking about the trouble she'll bring to National City.  
Look at Metropolis. Since Superman's arrival, a veritable super bad guy war has been waged on that city. Their maintenance budgets have quadrupled. National City does not need Metropolis' problems." Her new critic, Maxwell Lord was on the news again, shaming Supergirl.  
Winn saw the look on Kara's face. "Who cares what that guy says?"

"You do. Isn't Maxwell Lord your personal hero?"

"I own a couple Maxwell Lord watches and his biography." Winn said.  
"Mmm-hmm."

"-and his autobiography."

"Yeah."  
 _Drunk at 9:00 a.m. That's the last time I have breakfast with Ruth Bader Ginsburg._  
"She's here." She walked to her desk and used her heat vision to warm up Cat's latte.  
"At least now I know how you do that."

The elevator door opened and Kara handed her the latte "Here is your latte, Ms. Grant."  
Cat took a sip. "It's hot."  
"Just how you like it."  
"A concern you didn't seem to share before today. Content meeting, two minutes, my office."

She raced around getting the heads of each department in 2 minutes. She did it in a minute and 46 seconds, a new best.

"We're all aware of Supergirl's latest debacle, yes?" Cat said as the meeting started.

"She made sure no one will surf National City for the next 10,000 years."  
"Some hero."  
"It was the lead story on the Daily Planet homepage, their fifth in as many days. Which annoys me because the Daily Planet already has a go-to superhero, and now they're trying to steal mine. Now, when I branded her, there was an implicit promise that she would be, at a minimum, above average. But in the past week, she has proved herself to be - Oh, what is the opposite of super? #Terriblegirl?"

"You know, Superman made plenty of mistakes when he first started. At least she's saving lives."  
"In the sloppiest, most _awkward_ way imaginable, James." James looked at the ground. "So it is left to us to take control of Supergirl's narrative. Save her from self-immolation, and scoop the Planet. I want an interview."

Kara snickered.  
"Yes, Kara?"

"Sorry, sorry." Kara laughed "I just-I just started to think about this kitten video I saw online earlier. It's so funny what they make those cats do. I'll send it to all of you. Or not."  
Cat ignored her comment, turing back to James, "James. Perhaps your friend in blue would be useful in arranging a sit down? Maybe you could broach the subject, the next time you 'Bro hang'."

"It, uh, doesn't really work that way, Ms. Grant."  
"Mmm. Well, let me assure all of you, Lois Lane, Clark Kent, and all of the hags over at the Daily Planet are working day and night to get this exclusive. We need to get it first. I want a sit down with Supergirl. A girl to girl. And I want it by, um, the end of the week. Go, go. Go, go. Not you, Kara. Do you really think that I don't know what's going on with you?"

"You do?"

"Well, no. And honestly, I don't care. But whatever it is, it's affecting you at the office. Now you need to join a gym, uh, see a shrink, whatever, but get your head out of the clouds and back behind the desk where it belongs."  
"Right." If only she knew who Kara really was.

"I am not doing that interview. No. I can't I mean, I can't. Ms. Grant's not stupid. She'd recognize me in, like, one second." She told James.  
"She will look at Supergirl right in the face and she will not even see her assistant." James told, not wanting to lose his job.  
"How can you be so sure?"

"Because she doesn't see you now. I watched it happen for years with your cousin. Why don't you think that people recognize him as Clark Kent?"

"Reading glasses and a good slouch?"

"No, he's able to hide because the world can't believe that there's really a hero in their midst."  
"Yeah, and I'm sure there's a good reason why my cousin keeps his job at The Daily Planet instead of flying around as Superman all the time, which would be so much easier. Yeah well, one, he's able to pay his rent.  
"She's going to keep pressuring you about that interview."  
"Oh, I can handle Cat Grant."  
"I don't know-I don't know. I-I- Maybe I put the 'S' on too soon".  
"Kara, look out the window. Tell me what you see."

"Buildings. Billboards. There's that bar where that guy cards me all the time. He knows how old I am."

"I see a city full of people who need help. Who need a hero."  
"You really think so?"

"If anyone can fill Superman's boots... It's you."  
"Thank you, James. That was a really good pep talk."  
"Excellent use of pep."  
"Brilliant."  
"Awesome."

~{}~

What is she doing here? I called her, sir. We hunt aliens. She is one. It's a resource we didn't have before.  
\- What can I do to help?

"Don't cause any shipwrecks." Hank said, his normal grumpy self.  
"Take a look around. Don't touch anything."  
"Alex, this whole facility specializes in chemical manufacturing. Sodium hypochlorite, ammonium nitrate."  
"Ingredients for a chemical bomb?"

"Yeah. We need to find this alien, fast."

~{}~

"You're looking for a Hellgrammite. That stinger you pulled out, I've seen it before on Krypton. My mother sent one of their kind to Fort Rozz."  
"According to the data we salvaged from the wreckage of Fort Rozz, there was a Hellgrammite prisoner."  
"What do we know about his species?"

"Not much."  
"It's basically a large insect, but he can camouflage himself into any shape he wants. Humanoid included."  
"A giant insect trying to steal bomb-grade chemical compounds. This job never ceases to surprise."  
"You guys track him down, and I'll take him out, just like we did with Vartox. Sure thing, Miss Danvers. If you can prove to us you can handle yourself without getting killed."

"What are we doing in here?"

"When I joined the DEO, I spent 12 hours a day for five straight months in this room. We need to know that you're prepared for everything you might face out there."  
"Alex, I can bend steel with my bare hands. And last week, I kicked Vartox's butt."  
"I'm ready enough."

"You really think so?" Alex went to a panel on the wall. She tapped it a few times.

"Yeah. I do." Alex puncked her, throwing her in the training pad in the middle of the room. The punch _hurt._ "How did you do that? Kryptonite emitters. They're only at 18%. Not enough to permanently harm you, but enough to weaken you. Make this a fair fight."

"I just found out last week that Kryptonite exists. Only the DEO knows it can hurt me."

"You may have powers, Kara, but so do most of the Fort Rozz aliens. Not only do they have the element of surprise, but they've also had time to master their abilities. We may not always know who our enemies are, so we need to be prepared to face anyone. Now, come at me." Kara did, and was easily defeated. "Your wind up leaves you open for a counterattack." she ran at Alex again. "You're relying on your strength without technique. "When you are facing a superior opponent, you need to use their strength against them." Kara came at Alex one last time, Alex pinned her against the wall, hurting her.  
All right, all right, enough. You made your point. Well, maybe I'm not DEO material after all. I think I know why my cousin prefers to work alone." Kara left the room, she was leaving and never coming back. Afterall, she had Winn and James.

~{}~

"Why are you walking like that?" Kara was stiff, the first time since she came to earth.

" I took your advice to get my head out of the clouds, so I took a kickboxing class. I'm a little sore."  
'Supergirl Failure to Launch?' I don't need you to read it to me. I wrote it. Get it to copy for the noon posting.  
"I don't get it. Why do you keep criticizing Supergirl for trying to save the city? When Superman started-" "He, he, he. Him, him, him. I am so sick of hearing about the Man of Steel. Every woman worth her salt knows that we have to work twice as hard as a man to be thought of as half as good."

"Well, she did rescue that plane."  
"Yes, which she ditched, bobbing in a bay. Engineers are working around the clock trying to remove it."  
"She saved that tanker from exploding."  
"Causing a shipwreck, leaving the only tugboat within 150 miles of the city broken and battered. Now, I don't like the ships, but I like my amazon shipments." Kara didn't correct her that Amazon used airplanes to ship objects overseas.

"Well, if Supergirl were here, what would you suggest she do?"

"Calm the hell down. She's taking on way too much, way too fast. "

"She's trying to save the day."  
"By screwing everything up? No, this inexperienced idiot has barely had a run in her tights, and yet there she is at the epicenter of danger."  
"What's next? 'I think I'll catch the meteor that's headed straight for the White House? Oh! Whoopsy'. No, no, no. There is a learning curve. You don't just walk through the front door and suddenly own the company. I started out as Perry White's assistant. I worked my ass off until one day I finally had the chance to write an article for the gossip column. Every step of the way, I had to fight, to work hard, to get better, to come out ahead. No, catching planes and boats on fire, hmm How about we start small and work our way up? Supergirl should take a page out of your book, Kara." Funny, considering they were the same person.

"Meet me in the alley in five minutes." Kara said, walking past Winn's desk.

"Thank God you didn't say the roof."

"Hey, what's up? WInn came out, seeing James.

"Nothing, nothing."  
"I-I like to come out here to smoke. Which I like to do in private."  
"Actually, I'm meeting someone right now so."

"Yeah, you can meet them inside the building."  
Yeah? No, uh, my friend likes to make an entrance." Kara streaked across the sky landing behind them.  
"He knows?"  
"He knows? You told him?" James said as he and Winn glared at each other. Kara rolled her eyes. _Boys._

"James got a hint from Superman. And Winn's more than a friend."  
"Yeah."  
"If I'm going to be a hero, and prove to everyone that I know what I'm doing, I'm gonna need to practice. Start small, get better. And to do that, I'm gonna need your help."  
"I'm in." James said, a split second after Winn.

"I'm in. I-I-I said it first."

"Okay, boys, what have you got for me?"

"Armed robbery at a pizza place on 5th and Siegel."  
"Remember, bulletproof means bullets bounce off of you. So, if you don't want anyone to get hurt, don't let the bad guys even get a shot off."  
"Oh, yeah, and also try not to damage the suit. I, uh, helped make that outfit. I got some mad sewing skills." Kara laughed, she heard everything.  
"Mmm-hmm."

"Next?" Kara asked the men in her ear.

"Ambulance caught in traffic on Donner Avenue carrying a heart attack victim. They're not gonna make it to National City General in time. Oh, and a fully-loaded ambulance is about 9,200 pounds, which would mean that you'd need to use a maximum of 44,498 newtons of force-" Winn was interrupted by James.

"Kara, what he means is, gently this time."

' _Supergirl rescued an ambulance stuck in traffic, saving the life of a man inside.'  
_ ' _Another super save for Supergirl.'  
_ ' _Looks like National City's hero is starting to live up to her name.'_ The news reports about Supergirl's antics were becoming positive once again.  
"Oh! This one's the Fire Department. Ha! Kara, you're gonna love this one, it's a classic. Kitten up a tree."

It wasn't a cat though, it was a snake. The animals on earth looked strange but snakes… snakes were just weird.  
"I thought you said it was a cat. Who names her snake Fluffy?" Winn did have a point, who called a snake Fluffy?

"I can't believe it. It's working. People are really starting to believe in her." Kara smiled at them.

"In you." Winn said.  
"I couldn't have done it without you. Thank you." Kara looked at Winn and smiled, "Both of you." she glanced up at James.  
There was a knock at the door. "God, what, did you order more pizza? You're a beast." Winn said, as Kara scanned the hall for whoever was there. It was Alex. Kara walked to the door, her suit still on. "Kara! Kara, the cape."  
"Your cape!" James said as Kara opened the door.

"Can we talk?" Alex looked inside, saw Kara in her suit and Winn and James in the background. She put one and one together.

"Do you really think it was a good idea for you to tell your friends who you are?"

"Yes, because they're my friends. I'm allowed to have friends, aren't I? Or is that also against DEO rules?"

"I didn't come here to fight, I came here to apologize. For how I handled things back at the DEO. Maybe it wasn't the right way to go about it, but You have got to understand I was only looking out for you."  
"You always have looked out for me, since the day my cousin dropped me off at your house."  
"Do you remember how scared you were of the popcorn maker?"

"Yeah. You crawled under the table next to me. Showed me the melted butter and sprinkled the tiny, white crystals... But I'm not a scared little girl anymore."  
"Yeah, but I will always be your big sister. That doesn't just suddenly change because last week you decided to fight criminals."  
"Well, last week I found out you don't work in a lab. You're out there fighting, risking your life, and I still trust you. I-I know I have a lot to learn. And Winn and James believe in me, but I need your faith, Alex. More than that 'S'... more than that cape... More than anyone's."  
Alex's phone rang, she took the call saying, "Danvers. I'll be right there. They need me back at the DEO. I'll call you."

~{}~

 _Ms. Grant, you wanted to see me?_ James said. Kara heard, eavesdropping on the conversation in Cat's office.

' _James, I was wondering how the hunt for the interview with Supergirl is going.'  
_ ' _Oh, she's doing a little better, so I wasn't really sure if you were still interested in controlling the story. Oh, I want a sit down with her before the Planet. Maybe I was beating around the bush too much earlier.'  
_ ' _No, you were pretty clear.'  
_ ' _The 'S' is not some 'Who wore it best' fashion faux pas. It's a team logo. Maybe Supergirl is his sister, maybe it's his girlfriend,'_ Ewww… ' _but there's definitely a connection. And because you are famously 'his pal,' I have to wonder why you haven't exploited that relationship to get me what I want.'  
_ ' _I have a policy against using my friends for business reasons.'  
_ ' _And I have a policy against losing. Whose policy do you think means more to me? No, I get it. You're an honorable guy.'  
_ ' _So I'm asking you to do what's right by me and this company and get me in a room with that girl. You have 24 hours.'  
_ ' _Or?'_

' _Or the Planet gets their beloved photojournalist back.'_

~{}~

"Hey. Uh, Winn and I are gonna head back to my place, listen to the scanner and do a little super hero-ing if you wanna come?"

"I think I'm gonna take tonight off if you don't mind. Just got some things I should think about."

"Look, I know I said I wouldn't do the interview, but I'll do it. I don't want you getting fired."  
"I guess I shouldn't be surprised. You know, it's been like this for a while. Back when I first started, I was this nervous kid with his camera, just trying to get noticed. And then one day, everybody knew my name. And not because of anything I did. Not really. It's because I was friends with somebody who was making a difference. I don't know, I just I thought I could escape all that when I moved here. Be my own man, you know."

"Back on Krypton, no one was their own man. Growing up, I was taught that to accept help from people is not a shame, it's an honor. Your cousin never talks about Krypton. He was a baby when we left. But I remember it. All the time. Did he ever tell you what that 'S' means?"

"The House of El."  
"Yes, but, it also stands for a Kryptonian phrase, our family motto. El mayarah. It means, Stronger together."  
"You say people will see me the way they see Superman one day, but I don't want to be a hero like him.  
My cousin, he's so used to going it alone, he doesn't know any other way."  
"But I do. I see it now. You, Winn, my sister, Ms. Grant even, you've all showed me that. James, part of being your own man is knowing when to accept help."  
'You really want to do that interview?

"First, I was scared, but I'm not anymore. I want to do it."  
"For me?"

"For what we're trying to do here together."  
"Sorry." Kara said when her phone started ringing.  
"Hello."  
"It's Henshaw. There's been an incident. Your sister's been abducted." Kara dropped her phone.

 _No._

"I should've been there. If I was there If you trusted me instead of putting me through your tests, I could've stopped this."  
"Or maybe you'd be captured and dead too."

"I know, to you, she's just an agent, but to me, she's my family. Does that mean anything to you? Do you have a family?"

"I did. Look, we have every satellite and tactical drone up in the air, searching this whole city for her." he stopped being grumpy Hank and was treating her like a human, something she was not. She guessed he was actually worried.  
"And now you have me too."

~{}~

"Director Henshaw, I got her. A warehouse at the corner of 78th and Washington."

"I'm going to get her back."

"Miss Danvers, wait."

"Alex."

"No! Get out of here, it's a trap."

"It's been a long time, little one. Look how you've grown. So beautiful." Astra walked up behind her.

"But you-You died. When Krypton exploded-Everyone died. You died, Aunt Astra.

"Except I wasn't on Krypton when it perished. I was a prisoner aboard Fort Rozz. Did your mother not tell you? How she sent me away? Banished her own blood? Imprisoned me for speaking the truth while she told only lies? But why did she send you to Fort Rozz? For being a hero. For trying to save our world.'

"I remember so many nights, sitting on your lap, listening as you taught me all the names of the stars.'

"Then let me educate you once again, dear niece. Your alliance with the humans is misplaced. Do not stand against me. I let one planet die, I will not do so again."

'Funny, I was going to say the same thing."

"Join me, little one."

"Never call me that again."

"Ahhh!" Alex groaned as the Hellgrammite threw her against the wall.

"It's nothing personal. Just every species has a will to survive."

"Know what most species also have?" Alex kicked the giant intect between his legs. He groaned and let go of Alex, she stabbed him with his own stinger meant for her. "Those."

'You chose for it to end like this, instead of allying with your family. Now you can die alone. You might wanna rethink the cape.' Astra smirked.

 _When you are facing a superior opponent, you use their strength against them._

"Hey!"

"I saw on the news you haven't quite mastered that one yet.

Stop. Stay where you are. You possess no weapon that could harm me." Astra gripped Hank's throat, lifting him off the ground.

"You are so wrong." he said and stabbed her with a knife made from Kryptonite. She screamed and dropped Hank, fleeing the scene.

'Any more family I should know about?" Hank said, gasping for breath as he got up.

"I wish I had your healing powers. You took down the Hellgrammite with no help from me."

"Yeah, well, you were a little busy. I can't even imagine what you must be feeling right now. I mean, after all this time, finding out you still have family."

"You're my family. My aunt... We have to stop her. I have to be ready for her next time. Show me how to fight. Train me to be as good as you."

'I'll make you even better."

"On Krypton, I remember Aunt Astra and my mother always arguing. Like sisters do."

"And when I asked my mother why they could never get along, she said that it was because Astra didn't have faith in people."

"You wanted to know if I have faith in you. I do. I always have." Alex said facing her sister. She took a limping step forward, "When you first came to live with us, my parents told me that you would be sad and fragile, having just lost your world, your parents, friends. But you never let that loss diminish your light. You've always had the heart of a hero, Kara, way before you put on that 'S.'"

~{}~

"Mr. Olsen, I know that I gave you 24 hours to get me that interview with Supergirl, but if you haven't procured it by now, I would like to set up some interviews with new art directors for tomorrow." The car went over a bump unacceptable to Cat Grant.

"Eyes on the road up there." She scolded the driver.  
"Actually, Ms. Grant, your interview with Supergirl's already started. Look out your window."  
"What the hell?" She was flying over the CatCo building, sick to her stomach, she closed her eyes and tried not to hurl. After a few minutes there was another bump, this time it was Supergirl putting the car down.

"Ms. Grant. James Olsen said you wanna talk. Let's talk." Supergirl said, after Cat got out of her car.

THE END

(jk…. There's more!)


	3. Chapter 3

I thought that Kara needed something special… a power only she had (even if she needed something to help her do it). Please post a review so I know I'm not the only one reading this, thanks.

Chapter 3

What is Supergirl?

"It's you. Oh, no. I'm sorry. I meant to say, who are you?"

"According to you, I'm Supergirl."  
"Trademark pending."  
You have questions. I'm ready to answer them.  
Huh. Do you mind if I record this?

I suppose not.  
"Okay." she tapped her phone a few times before starting the interview. "Supergirl. Let's start with the generals. Where are you from?"

"I traveled to Earth from my home planet of-"

"Krypton?"

Kara nodded "When it was destroyed."  
My parents sent me here to protect the person who you call Superman. However-"

Cat sighed, bored of the backstory, "I feel like I've heard this story before."  
"You're wrong. This is my story."  
"So, I can assume that all of your powers are the same as the Man of Steel's? The flying, the super strength, the freezy breath thing?"

"I'm still working on that last one." she said, recalling the fire at the port.  
"Oh, so you're not up to his level yet?"

Kara shoot the ground next to her with her laser vision. "I wouldn't say that."  
"So, why are we just hearing from you now?"

Kara thought for a while but still didn't understand why she would say that. "I'm not sure I understand the question."  
"Well, if you've been on Earth for years, why wait this long to start giving back? Where were you during the earthquake two years ago? Or the wildfires last September that killed eight people?"

"This is not a job I take lightly. I had to be ready."  
"Any plans to start a family?"

Kara stopped, she felt the question was sexist. "Nobody ever asks my cousin these questions." _oh, crap._  
"Superman is your cousin?" Cat said, interested.

"This interview is over." Kara said, flying away.  
"Well, what do you do all day when you're not flying around town? Do you have a day job?"

~{}~

"Mmm. Mmm." Kara said, finishing her fourth plate of sticky buns. The waitress came out with another one  
Thank you.  
"How can you eat sticky buns for breakfast every day and stay so thin?" the waitress asked her.

"I'm an alien." Kara turned around to see her sister walk up to her.

"Hi." Alex said.  
"Hey."  
"Are you okay? I called you like a bunch of times last night. Where were you?" She said, concerned.

"I think I fell asleep last night. Yesterday was a pretty long day."  
"Morning! Hey." Winn suddenly appeared, Kara smiled, until she remembered her sister was there.

 _Oh, Alex and Winn, Alex please do not embarrass me._ Kara silently pleaded her sister.

"Hey." Alex said, glancing at her sister's face, hearing the message.  
Uh, what are you doing here? Oh, this is the only place that makes this really hard to find drink I like, tea.  
That's really funny.  
"That's funny."  
Um, Alex, you remember, um, Winn? My friend from work.  
"Yeah."

"How's the covert alien hunting business?"

"Not as covert as we would prefer." Alex said, glaring at her sister.

"Ok, so what if I told him. I am sorry but he's my friend."

"Look, it's okay. I can be trusted with a big secret."

"Well. I hope you'll extend the same courtesy to my sister."

"Always." Winn said as his order arrived.  
"Meet up back at the office?" Kara said as he started to leave.

"Yep. Great seeing you, Alex."  
After he left, Alex stared at her sister. "Hmm."  
"What?"

"You like Winn Schott."  
"Stop it." she said blushing, "Was it that obvious?"  
"Oh. Mmm-hmm." Alex said smiling. "Okay."  
"We're just friends."  
Alex chuckled "Just friends. Please. You were looking at him like he was one of your sticky buns. And seriously, you have got to stop telling people who you really are. The less people know about Supergirl, the better."  
"Right."

 _Cat Grant, CEO of Catco Media, is reporting that Supergirl and Superman are in fact related. No one has been able to identify who or rather what she is.  
_ "Um, Kara?" Winn said as she made her way to her desk. "Interesting choice mentioning that in an interview. Isn't that a little dangerous?"

"I didn't mean to. I got confused and it just popped out. She-she tricked me. She's like a villain. She's like a super interviewing villain."  
"That is literally the most boring power ever."  
"Kerah!"

Kara sighed, Cat was never going to get her name right. "Good morning, Ms. Grant.  
It's a big day for journalism. The Daily Planet can suck it. I scooped them.  
"Yes, I-I heard. You told everyone that Supergirl and Superman are cousins. Do you think maybe she might've kind of wanted that on the down low?"

"Bulletproof."  
"Uh." Kara froze, "Are-are you asking me if I'm bullet-"

"Bulletproof Coffee. It's made from unsalted grass-fed butter with an extract of coconut oil that improves brain energy. I will need a cup of it every hour. Crappy coffee has toxins in it that will rob me of my creativity and my vigor. I'm going to need both if I am going to write a kick-ass expose on Supergirl."  
"You're writing it? Yourself?" kara said, in disbelieve.

"I'm a writer. It's like riding a bike, or severe childhood trauma. You never really lose it. And I must be pretty decent at it because" Cat chuckles, then waved her hands around. "We will be publishing a special issue of our monthly magazine, The Day After Tomorrow. It is going to make that Caitlyn Jenner Vani Fai look like a Penny Saver pullout. We need a big party to launch it. Throw something together Uh, 1,000 guests. Rent out a museum or something. And move Dave out there to another desk. I find his hair distracting." She went listing things for her to do.

~{}~

"Have you lost your mind? What were you thinking giving interviews?" Hank said as Kara walked into the DEO.

"I wouldn't say it was an interview exactly. It was more of a private conversation that's being published."  
"What's next? A book deal? A reality show? Keeping Up with the Kryptonians?"

"So, he's mad?"

"It's hard to tell with him. Why did you give that interview?

"At first, I did it for James. He was going to lose his job."  
"Oh... still? You gave out a lot of information... cousins."  
"But I also did it for me. I'm still trying to figure out what Supergirl means. Guess I just thought talking to Ms. Grant would give me some perspective."

"Everybody wonders who they are at some point in their lives. You're gonna figure it out, Kara. You always have."  
There was an alarm "Sir, we have a Code Grey. It's coming from the NCH. Looks like a multiple car collision. Highway Patrol officers and medical personnel are en route. No sign of alien activity. We're clear.  
"Run a thermal scan to be sure. And Miss Danvers, next time you're thinking of talking to the press-" He turned around, to see Kara was already gone. He rolled his eyes.

~{}~

"Supergirl, the driver's still inside, she can't get out." A man said to Kara as she landed at the pile-up, he pointed to the sideways city bus.  
There was a woman inside, she was screaming, trapped under some twisted part of the bus. "Help!"

Kara grunted as she bent back the metal and filled the woman out of the bus. Some paramedics came out to meet them. She murmured words of comfort to the woman as she set her down on the stretcher, "It's okay, I've got you, I've got you."  
"Thank you." the woman said as she was wheeled away.  
Suddenly she was hit by something, she went flying back, and she hit the ground. "Who are you?" she asked getting up, sluggishly.

"I'm just a ghost." the man said, his mask was made of lead, concealing his identity from her. His suit was mainly black with a red core in the middle of his chest. (lol my descriptions are terrible.)  
"What do you want?" She asked him.

"I want the Man of Steel to suffer. I want him to know what it feels like to lose everything. Starting with you." he raised his fist, aiming it at her, she flinched expecting to get hit with whatever weapon he used. Instead he grunted and clutched his chest, covering the red core. He breathed heavily then he flew away. Kara raced back to the DEO. Whoever that was wanted her dead.

~{}~

"'Reactron.' At least that's what the Daily Planet colorfully dubbed him when he showed up in Metropolis a few years back." Hank said as they pulled all the information they could get on the man who attacked Kara.  
"Reactron? That's kind of a stupid name. Who named him that?" Kara said staring at the screen.

"Jimmy Olsen."  
"Oh. So, who is this guy really?"

"Unknown. He remains at large after a string of very public fights with your cousin. Neither of them ever came out on top. And no one knows why he's so obsessed with killing Superman."  
"So, what's the plan? How do we stop him?"

"We don't." Hank walked away.  
"So what are you saying? We just sit back and do nothing?" Kara said, following Hank around.

"Reactron, whoever he is, is human. Which means this case falls outside the DEO's jurisdiction."

"This man flies and shoots nuclear fireballs! How is that not extra-normal?"

"He's using advanced biomedical tech. Man-made tech." Alex explained.

"I can't risk exposing this organization every time some human criminal shows up at National City."  
"And I just can't let this man run wild."  
"Call your cousin. Superman fights for truth, justice and the American way. Last time I checked, National City was in America."

~{}~

"Ms. Grant? I'm just-I'm putting the finishing touches on that party and, I need your okay on-" Kara was interrupted by her, pointing to the vent by the side of her office.

"Shh, shh, shh. Do you hear that?" Kara and Cat kept quiet for a minute, there was no noise, not even Kara with her super hearing could hear anything.

"Uh, no." Kara said slowly, not wanting to upset her boss.  
"You don't you hear that loud, high pitched, incessant humming coming from the vents that is making it impossible for me to think straight, let alone string together one coherent sentence?"

"I have pretty good ears, and I don't hear anything."  
"Well, get maintenance to look into it because it's driving me crazy."  
"Sure thing, I'll get them right on it. I just need you to approve the appetizers for tomorrow-"  
"Kerah, I am very proud of the fact that in my many years of being a CEO I have never thrown a phone at an assistant. I would very much like to keep that record intact." Cat said as she gave a death stare at Kara, who promptly turned around, out of her office.  
"I'll take care of it." she said as she walked out, knowing that Cat would yell at her later when she saw Kara's choice.  
"She's pretty tense working on that article, huh?"

"Yeah. You could say that."  
"She always get like this when she's writing?"

"People have been known to schedule their vacations around it." Kara said, not joking.  
"Psst." Winn said, and both James and Kara looked at him, he continued to signal them "Psst."  
"Why are you doing that? We're standing right here." Kara said walking toward him.  
"Follow me and act natural." Winn said, walking toward the elevator. They walked into the elevator and Winn pressed a button.  
"Where are you taking us?"

"To your new office." Winn said, grinning.  
"I think Ms. Grant prefers me to be within yelling distance." Kara said, following Winn to the end of the hallway.

"Oh, no. Not for that job. For our _other_ job." He stopped in front of an office. "This used to be Ed Flaherty's office from Actuaries but after he died of a heart attack behind his desk, nobody wants it. Which makes it perfect for our needs. Now, we can't just crowd around your desk every time we want to talk Supergirl stuff." Winn opened the door. Inside were several computers and servers. Along with a couch and desk. "So, I loaded this office up with some, uh, state-of-the-art, top-of-the-line tech."  
"Winn, I can't believe you did all this for me."  
"Um, believe it." He chuckled then sat down at the desk.

"Okay, so for our first mission, Supergirl vs. Reactron." Winn typed something in, hacking into some mainframe. "Okay, so his true identity remains a mystery. Right? We know Superman has fought him multiple times over the years."  
"Right." Kara said, nodding at him.  
"I know. I was there." James said as Winn rolled his eyes at him.

"How could I forget? Anyway, he shoots these highly concentrated-"

"Bursts of nuclear energy."  
"From his gauntlets. Uh, his chest plate provides an increase in strength-"

"Strength." James said, giving them what he knew but Winn knew everything already.  
"and flight."  
"Yeah." James nodded.  
"Now, I've written an algorithm that will sweep the city for any variable changes in radiation. And maybe we can use this to find him."

"The blasts are radiation so maybe I could absorb the shots instead of them weakening me. Winn do you think you could build something to transfer the energy into energy I could absorb?"  
"I mean yeah-" Winn was once again interrupted by James.

"Kara, you might consider calling your cousin on this one. I've seen what Reactron can do."  
"James, if I call for help now, I'm done. We're done. Every villain out there will think of National City as an easy target."  
"He nearly killed Clark once."  
"Clark?" Winn stammered, "Clark Kent is Superman?" James looked at him, amused at his reaction. Kara realized that Winn was the only one in the group that didn't know who Superman was.

"I'm just trying to keep you safe."  
"And, yes, I appreciate that. But of all the things the 'S' stands for, safety is not one of them."  
"Clark-Clark Kent is Superman." Winn said, still shocked at finding out who Superman really was in the day  
"Winn, I'm sorry I didn't tell you that Clark is Superman." Kara apologized to Winn, who was still shocked, his eyes wide open. Kara turned back to James "Sorry, I can't. I'm-I'm still trying to figure out what being Supergirl means. Who I am. And now I know. I'm not Superman's cousin. I'm Supergirl. And if I'm going to be defined, it's going to be by my victories and my losses. No one else's." Kara shaking her head.

James walked out, tired of fighting with Kara. "I guess stubbornness runs in the family." he murmured.

~{}~

 _Once again, Lord Technologies has been the target of an attack by the criminal known as Reactron. It's been 24 hours since tech billionaire Maxwell Lord was abducted from his research facility by the Metropolis-based criminal known as Reactron. Authorities still will not speculate whether Mr. Lord is alive or dead._ The news report wasn't good. Why would Reactron need a billionaire? Maxwell Lord being the worst choice he could make.

 __"Yes, yes, I'm still here. Yes, Ms. Grant wants all of the hostesses dressed as Supergirl. Right, uh, red, blue, the 'S.' Thank you." Kara said on the phone. This party was killing her along with Reactron. She sighed as she hung up the phone.  
"This isn't on you, Kara." Alex said, sneaking up on Kara, something that had never happened before.  
"I have to find this man. How am I supposed to do that?"

"With my help. Do you have someplace private we can talk?" Alex asked her sister.

Kara grinned as Winn responded, "Do we ever."

~{}~

"I used the DEO satellite to scan the highway where you fought Reactron. And I was able to isolate the nuclear signature of his weapons system. It's powered by Thorium 232 which can only be found in one place."  
Winn typed in something on the computer. "Bakerline Nuclear Power Station." He said.  
"I remember this." Kara said "Terrorists tried to start a full-on meltdown like five years ago, but then" Kara squinted trying to remember.

"Superman stopped them. Yeah, he prevented the core from going into overload." Alex said.  
"Saved millions of people. But two reactor engineers were killed when the facility was flooded with radiation. Ben and Alyssa Krull. They were married." Winn said as he pulled a picture of the two together.

"Ben Krull is Reactron."Kara said as Winn superimposed Reactron's mask on Ben's face.  
"Yeah, he somehow survived the radiation exposure."  
"That's why he hates my cousin. He blames him for the death of his wife. Superman still managed to prevent an American Chernobyl."  
"Chernobyl. That gives me an idea on how we might find Krull." Winn said as he turned to the computer, typing fast.

~{}~

I finished proofing the Supergirl article.  
Please begin my compliments.  
Well, uh, the writing is-the writing is beautiful. Lyrical. The kind of story they make you read in journalism school.  
I distinctly heard a slight uplilt, which suggests a hesitation, a vacillation, and maybe an ambivalence? Isn't the tone kind of A little nasty? (KARA GASPS) Uh, I mean, the headline.  
Um, okay.  
'Millennial Falcon: Every Generation Gets the Superhero it Deserves.' Supergirl didn't tell you how old she is. How do you know she's a millennial?"

"Well, if she's not, then I want the name of her surgeon."  
"What about this passage? Um 'Supergirl embodies the worst traits of her generation, her earnestness without purpose, the unshakable belief that she has a right to be heard, even when she has nothing to say.'" Kara looked up to see Cat mouthing along as she read it.  
"That is a magnificent point."  
"I transcribed your interview. She's not like this. You've taken her out of context."  
"I have given her context. I hate to break it to you, but the world is tough." Cat took off her glasses, and pointed them at Kara. "What is she going to do when she has to face a real threat? Oh, I know, she'll call her cousin. Just like every other millennial who calls Mommy and Daddy the second things don't go their way."  
"She won't do that."  
"How do you know that?"

"I think-I think maybe what she's trying to say is that when people are scared or hurt or in danger, they think of Superman. But that it's okay to think of her too, and not just as some consolation prize. I mean her name isn't super _man_ , it's super _girl_. She's every bit the hero he is. She just needs the chance to prove it."  
"Well, I guess we'll find out."  
The door opened as James came in. "Sorry to interrupt. Kara, it's the florist." Kara didn't recall ordering flowers, Cat was severely allergic to pollen.

"There better not be flowers at the party, Kerah."  
"Right. I should probably handle that." she said, before walking out, she followed James to the eveator.

As the door closed James said, "Winn found Krull."  
"What? How?"

"There was a black mold that grew in the town of Chernobyl right after the meltdown. Now, Winn found the same mold here in National City." The door opened and kara walked to their office. Winn was putting the last touches on her suit.

"Kara! No, you are early!" He said, shielding the suit from her view. He sighed and put his hands down. "It's ready, it just looks terrible." the suit now had a chest plate, with wires taped up in red, blue and gold duck tape.

"It's perfect." Kara grinned as she started to put it on. Both Winn and James turned around hissing. She laughed, it had only taken about a second to put the suit on. Winn slowly turned around his eyes closed with his hands over his face, James stayed turned around. Kara pushed Winn's hands down and he opened one eye. He opened the other when he saw Kara was fully dressed.

He grumbled, "You should really warn someone, easily the other gender, if you start changing."

"Please, I'm so fast you wouldn't see a thing." Kara rolled her eyes at the guys. "Where is he?"  
"At a junkyard, 60 miles south." Winn responded.  
"Tell Ms. Grant I'm putting the finishing touches on the party."  
"Kara." James said, catching Kara's elbow as she tried leaving the room. "Kara, just wait. Wait. Just get Lord out of there. You don't have to take on Krull, too."

"Krull is not some crazed alien. He's a human being. Who's been hurt enough. That's something my cousin never knew. And that's why I'm gonna go talk to him, the way I would want someone to talk to me."  
"And if he doesn't want to talk?"

"Then I'll punch him real hard until he falls down. That always seems to work." SHe said as she shook off James' hand.  
"Kara." He said softly as she whooshed out the window.

"I'm not here to fight you. I know who you are." Kara walked around the shop, god it was creepy with old dolls people had thrown out over the years hanging from the ceiling. "I know why you hate my cousin. I know what you've lost, too." She entered another room and saw Maxwell Lord, tied up in a chair.  
"You look taller on TV." He said, tilting his head to look at Kara.  
 _And you look less douchey on TV._ "Where is he?"

"He forced me to repair his suit. I don't know where he is." he said as kara snapped the ropes binding him to the chair.  
"Get out of here." She said pointing to the exit. Then suddenly Reactron showed up, his eyes underneath his mask were red with anger. "Go!" Kara said to the billionaire. She turned back to Reactron. "Ben, I don't think your wife would want you hurting anyone."

"Ben Krull is dead. Superman saw to that. Now he's gonna lose someone too." he raised his arm and fired a shot at her. It hurt but she got a rush of strength as it hit her. He hit her again and again, she grunted with pain, then he aimed it at her head, the pain made her see white as she fell to the ground. Kara grunted with effort as she tried to stand up, only to be hit again in the head. "And after you die..." Kara fell to the ground "your city dies too." that knocked Kara out of her pain, she stood up and even though it hurt, she stepped towards Reactron. No one messed with her city, they may threaten her but this city had a lot of people she cared about in it. Reactron fled, knowing he would be defeated if he stayed any longer.

Kara hissed as Winn applied some antiseptic to one of her cuts on her face.

"I have never seen you bleed."

"Well that what's getting a direct blast of radiation, _in the face_ , does to a Kryptonian. You could could have told me the blasts still hurt."

"What? How was I to know? I have never gotten hit with a ray of pure radiation before nor has any human on this planet." He said as the cuts healed themselves, the gravel, which was keeping the wound open, removed.

Maxwell was on TV, "Reactron is a great danger to everyone in this city. Luckily, I wasn't harmed. In fact, I'm lucky to be alive. I barely escaped by myself."

"What? I saved you... You… you ungrateful heathen!" She yelled at the TV.

"Heathen? Really?" Winn said, grinning at her.  
"I don't understand. Why would he want to cover me saving him up?" Winn shrugged.

Kara checked the time on her phone. She gasped, "Oh, God! I I have to be at Cat's party, like, now. Like 10 minutes ago, now. I don't have my dress."  
"Run-er-fly Kara fly!" Winn ushered her to the balcony and Kara jumped off.

~{}~

Kara exhaled as she entered the gallery, music was playing in the background. Kara was wearing a simple but elegant blue dress, per her sister's advice. She spun around to see where Cat was. She was right next to her. "Oh, um-" Kara started to make an excuse.

"You don't fool me. You're late. I noticed because there was no one mumbling and shuffling three paces behind me." Cat glared at her.  
"I'm sorry."  
"Where are the magazines?" Kara stammered, _where did she put them?_ "The paper ones? The ones that can be framed?"

"Right, the magazine. Uh…"  
"Uh, the truth is, Kara is probably just a little foggy because she was up all night autographing the magazines with the author's name." Winn said as he came up behind Kara. She whipped around, her eyes wide.  
"Ah. It's as if I thought of it myself, Kerah." Cat said, not even glancing in Winn's direction. She walked off.  
"Oh, my God. Winn, you just saved my life." She said, putting her hand on her chest. She nearly had a heart attack. Winn chuckled. "I owe you big time."  
"Well, you could, um, repay your debt right now." He said as a song started in the background. He put out his arm. "Dance with me?"

"Sure." Kara said chuckling, her stomach a ball of butterflies. _Did_ he _just ask_ her _to dance?_  
"Ready?" Winn said, twisting his arm around Kara

"No, wait." Kara said as she was spun around. "Oh, my God!" She laughed, her days were always filled with villains and aliens. It had been so long since she was actually happy.

"Yes, it's happening, girl!" Kara stopped spinning and they shuffled together, Winn murmured to himself, so quiet it was more of a thought, "This is happening."

Kara blushed as they got closer, more people joining the dance. They leaned in together and...  
The glass ceiling shattered as Reactron flew through. The crowd screamed and ran towards the exits leaving James, Kara, Winn, and Maxwell Lord with Reactron.

"Where is Supergirl?" Reactron yelled.

"I'm going to slip into something more durable. Do not do anything stupid." Kara murmured as she ran, with almost inhuman speed.  
"No promises." Winn said as she ran.

Reactron, seeing Maxwell, walked toward him. Max raised his arms in defeat as he said "Don't suppose my fixing your nuke suit earns me a hall pass?"

That said suit powered up. The air whooshed around the room as Supergirl landed on the ground. She grabbed Reactron's shoulder flinging him across the room.

"Twice in one day. I should put you on the payroll as a bodyguard." He joked at Supergirl.  
"Get somewhere safe." She said, not cracking a smile.  
"Good idea." He said, running outside of the building.  
Kara turned back to the threat. "I am sorry for what happened to you. But you are going to jail."  
"I'm sure one day I will." He said raising his arm, not at Supergirl but a beam. He fired and the beam fell, down straight for Winn. He fell and raised his arm as the beam nearly crushed him. Kara groaned and Winn breathed heavily, nearly dying didn't scare him as much as losing her friend did to Kara. "But you won't live to see it." then Kara saw his plan, she couldn't move, not without dropping the beam on her friend. As Reactron lifted his arm at Kara.  
"Hey, Krull!" James said, distracting Reactron from killing Kara "Krull! Know who I am? Jimmy Olsen. I'm the closest thing Superman has to a best friend. You wanna see him hurt? Killing me would do that. Come on." James said, drawing Reactron away and out of the room.

Kara flew up, replacing the beam and welding it in place so that it wouldn't fall. She flew back down and helped Winn to his feet. "Are you ok?"

"Well, I wasn't crushed so that's a plus."  
" _Kara, we may have a way for you to stop Krull. Krull's chest unit is powered by a Demon Core, a subcritical mass of plutonium. If you can remove it from his suit, it should shut down his weaponry. But the core will melt down the very moment it's freed from its containment matrix."_ Alex was in her ear. " _And Kara, the adapter you have won't be able to process it. You might die._ "

"It's always worth it." Kara said as she followed Reactron outside.

" _No, Kara-"_ Kara turned off the comm. She knew her sister would talk her out of it.

She hit Reactron and they both crash-landed in a parking lot. Reactron landed on top of Kara. Kara grunted as she tried to get Reactron on the bottom. She grabbed the red core and she shoved it close to her chest, and curled around it. It exploded with a silent boom and flash of light that shone through her body and Kara yelled. As soon as it started it stopped and Kara fell to the ground.

Winn ran outside, "Supergirl!" He knelt and he dragged Kara over his lap. He checked her pulse, it was faint and shallow but it was there. "Oh, thank god."

Kara gasped and she looked around, Winn was holding her. He laughed in relief, Kara groaned, for once her body ached. The piece of gear she had over her suit was charred and burned out. "What happened?" She said, trying to sit up but only managing to lift her head.

"You almost killed yourself that's what happened." Winn said, his tone harsh but Kara knew he was grateful she was still alive.

"It takes more than a ton of radiation to kill a Kryptonian." She grinned at him, he smiled back. They laughed as Alex showed up.

"You could have been killed." her sister said.  
"Go figure." Kara shoot back

~{}~

"Thank you for your help. Both of you." Kara said as she got off the table, the amount of radiation she had absorbed had brought Kara even more strength, and tests they ran said, they won't return to what said was 'normal levels of strength.'  
"Something tells me this isn't the last non-alien you'll be taking on. And since the threat of federal prison doesn't stop your sister disobeying my orders, I guess in the future we'll just have to help Supergirl again." Hank said as she followed them back to the main control room. He quickly was bombarded by people with papers to sign.  
Told you he'd come around on me.  
So, what does the Girl of Steel do to celebrate after saving the day? Um, How about the Danvers sisters take in a movie tonight? Or how about you go find a certain IT who owns more cardigans then you, who makes you smile more than anyone else I've ever seen do?" Kara looked shocked, her sister chuckled, she wasn't as clueless as her sister. "Yeah, I know."

~{}~

"Hey, you want to go down to our, uh," Winn whispered "our secret office, do some super sleuthing?" He smiled at Kara, swiveling his chair back and forth.

Kara smiled, remembering what her sister had said earlier. "Sure. I think I have some time to burn." She got up and followed him to the office. She laughed and joked a lot with Winn, who smiled and joked back. They spent the time watching really terrible shows on Netflix, joking about them and making funny comments, instead of crime-fighting, nothing big was happening in the city for a change.

"Thank you. For making that adapter. You saved my life." She said as they left. Cat was yelling her name.

"Well, you did save my life, twice in one night." Winn said.

The end (of the chapter)


	4. Chapter 4

**please leave a review!**

Chapter 4

Livewire? Why is it always the crazies who name themselves?

Kara was flying over the city when she heard a scream. She quickly landed and dealt with the would-be mugger. She tapped her earphone, accepting a call from her sister, "Where are you?" "Busy." She said as the mugger tried running then shooting her.  
"You promised me that you were gonna be here." the mugger got out a knife, then tried stabbing her, the knife blade bent.

"Really? If the gun doesn't work, the knife will." She rolled her eyes before knocking the mugger unconscious. She grabbed the mugger and flew to the nearest police station. "And I will be." she landed outside before dropping the mugger and flying away. She ended the call with her sister, who was just complaining at that point. She flew to her apartment and landed though the window.

"Oh, finally!"

"Nice to see you, too."  
"Look there was a mugger who tried running then shooting then stabbing me."  
"Happens to the best of us. I'm sorry. I'm just-I'm freaking out." Alex started pacing back and forth in the kitchen.  
"Alex, I have seen you take down a human-sized bug without a weapon. This is going to be fine." Kara tried reassuring her sister.  
"Last year, she was mad at me for you not dating enough. Okay? I can't even imagine what she's gonna do to me for you coming out as Supergirl."  
"She seemed fine on the phone. At least she's making pie."  
"Yeah. I'm sure your favorite."  
Chocolate pecan pie is the best dessert in the galaxy. And as someone who's been to twelve different planets, I mean that literally." Kara said as the doorbell rang, a quick look with her x-ray vision showed it was their mother.  
"Oh, God. No, you need to change out of that-" Alex said, starting to pace again.

"It's fine. It's fine." Kara glanced at her sister as she started to open the door. Kara smiled and said excitedly "Eliza!"

"My girls! Oh, my best, favorite, wonderful girls!" Alex stopped pacing but she didn't come closer to her mother to hug her. "Oh Alex, come here. It's so good to be here. Oh! You both look so great." Eliza turned to Kara. "You always looked great in blue." she turned to her other daughter, alex simled politely at her mother.  
"And you look a little tired, sweetie. Is the lab keeping you busy?"

"Yeah." Alex said, staring at Kara who shrugged at her, only giving her a slight frown. "How was your flight?" Alex said turning back to her mother.

"Oh, it was fine. Um, it was a little bumpy."  
"Oh, I hate when that happens. I hit some crazy air pockets when I was flying back from the-the-the place I was at." Alex said, she didn't tell her mother she had almost died two weeks ago. Eliza turned to Kara, who was still in her Supergirl suit.  
"You're doing great, Kara." she said, bring her in for another hug.  
"You really..do you really think so, Mom?"

"Of course." she said smiling at her alien daughter.

They talked for awhile before turning on the radio. They injoying eating their food while listning to music… until a critic of Supergirl came on.  
"This is Leslie Willis, coming to you alive and wired from Catco Plaza. The week of Thanksgiving, which means...Ah, it is time for my annual list of Things I Am Not Grateful For, and this year's list is only one item, Supergirl."

Kara sighed before taking another bite of her sticky bun.  
"The blue-and-red abscessed tooth in the otherwise gleaming smile that is National City! How much do I despise, I mean loathe, her whole, "Look at me, I'm a-dork-able" thing."  
"And that hideous, like, rejected-from-the-Olympics figure skating outfit she wears? I mean, a skirt and tights? Puh-lease."

At work, Winn was listening on headphones while playing another video game, he looked up at the air before shaking his head. He hated Leslie Willis.  
"Seems like overkill, especially since no one is trying to get in there. And who would that be? You know, who's hombre enough to puncture the Chastity Belt of Steel? Or is what's required a softer touch? I mean, she does kind of give off a Sapphic vibe, with that big ol' butch "S" chest plate. I mean, how would that even work with an alien? I mean, is everything the same down there, or are we talking tentacles? Maybe it's time for a break. Or a makeover."

At the same time, Winn and Cat both turned off the radio while Kara took a slightly more satisfying approach to shutting her up. She glared at the radio, it quickly burst into flames. Kara put out the flames in a single breath, like blowing out a candle. She smirled as she took another bite of her breakfast. Both her mother and sister yelled at her, but Kara just grinned, plus they weren't at mad at her. Alex had been about to shoot the radio herself.

~{}~

"So, how was breakfast with your mom?" Winn said as Kara walked into work.

"Foster mom." Kar corrected Winn, And great. She's amazing. But Alex keeps waiting for this, like, bomb to go off. And maybe I'm oblivious, but-" Kara glanced at Winn, who had a wide grin on his face. "What?"

"It's just-it's nice when we talk about a metaphoric bomb for a change." Kara smiled at his joke before she set down her stuff on her desk.  
"So, have you figured out what you're doing for Thanksgiving?"

"Yeah, uh, orphan Thanksgiving. Literally, Thai food and Orphan Black marathon." Winn said, swiveling his chair around.  
"Alone? What about your family?" Kara asked flabbergast.

"Core wound, Kara."  
"Friends?" Winn shook his head at Kara, "Winn!"

"What?" Winn looked up at Kara, he saw the look on her face. "No!"

"Yes! No, that's crazy! You're coming over. We're gonna have a Friendsgiving.  
"Oh, you don't have to do that." Winn said, his eyes still hopeful she would insist.  
"Well, I want to. Seriously. You can be a buffer between Alex and Eliza." Kara said only semi-joking. "And we can watch Orphan Black after." she said, turning back to her desk and glanced in her boss' office. "What is Leslie Willis doing in Cat's office?"

"Uh, you have super-hearing." Winn replied, she sometimes forgot that she had it, from years of suppressing her powers and keeping them a secret.

" _I caught your broadcast yesterday, I warned you about going after Supergirl."  
You're always warning me about something. That's our dynamic. You tell me I'm crossing a line. A week later, there's a new line to cross."  
_" _I discovered you in that shoebox of a radio station. I mentored you to the best of my abilities. And for the most part, I am proud of that. But going after a young girl, insulting her body, how she dresses, her sexuality-"_

 _"Lack of sexuality. And the last time I checked, as long as I delivered you certain ratings, you didn't care what sacred cows I went after. So why is she different?"_

" _I named her, Leslie. I am doing everything I can to cultivate a relationship between Supergirl and Catco. If I could legally adopt her, I would."_ Kara smirked, that was already taken.  
" _I read your article, Cat. You're just as hard on her as I am."  
Supergirl is off the table. Effective immediately."  
_" _What, you're dictating my content now?"_

" _Yes. Supergirl is changing the conversation of National City. People don't want your brand of negativity anymore, Leslie. They want optimism, hope, positivity."  
_ " _You're a hypocrite, Cat."  
_ " _And you're finished, Leslie."  
_ " _I have two years left on my contract. You are too proud, and you're too cheap to buy me out."  
_ " _That's true. However, I'm not firing you, I'm transferring you to traffic chopper. You'll be National City's highest paid traffic reporter."  
_ " _You do this, you will regret it."_

" _Rush hour starts at 4:30." Cat looked at her wrist, as if she would wear a watch. "If you're not in the CatCopter when it goes up, you'll be hearing from my lawyer." Cat faked a gasp as lightning flashed through the window. "Oh, and you better take some Dramamine, it looks like it's going to be a bumpy ride."_

Leslie scoffed at her boss as she walked out.

~{}~

"Hey." Kara said as she opened her door to her apartment, Alex was inside, pacing as normal.  
"Okay. I figured it out. Mom is furious that you've come out, but she's pretending that she isn't."  
"Have you considered that Eliza really isn't mad? It's not like we're still kids that she has to worry about."  
"She has always come down hard on me for not protecting you."  
"Then maybe it's time for you to come out. Tell her who you really are. What you really do."

"Okay, wait. You want me to tell her that I'm a DEO agent? No way. I can't. Officially, we don't exist." Alex seemed to be explaining it to herself rather than to Kara.  
"Look, if she is mad at you 'cause she thinks that you're not looking after me, then tell her the truth. That your entire career, everything you've ever done in your life, it's all been to protect me. You've got to give her a chance."  
"Protecting you isn't my actual job."

"Yeah, but you have more fun when it is." Kara said, giving her sister a small smile.  
A helicopter flew past the windows, Alex looked at her sister her face grim. "Kara." Kara had already changed into her suit and was flying out the window, flying to the crashing helicopter.

She pinned the helicopter against the side of a building and lifted the pilot out and on the ground with superspeed.

"What the hell? You!" Leslie was inside the helicopter still, as much as Kara hated her, she still didn't want her to die.

"Grab my hand." Leslie did so as Kara was struck by lightning. She screamed as electricity passed through her and into Leslie, who screamed as well before passing out.

~{}~

"I truly hate hospitals." Cat said, both she and Kara had took it upon themselves, meaning Cat, to visit Leslie, who hadn't woken up from the lightning. The monitor beeped steadily at Leslie's side.  
"How much longer until it's appropriate for us to leave?"

"You don't really mean that."  
"Oh, I do. I am intensely germ-phobic. And I'm not crazy about Leslie's new do. It's very Katy Perry."

"If you didn't care about Leslie, you wouldn't be paying for this hospital room. Does she have any family?"

"Not that she's mentioned."  
"Well, then, who were those from?"

"Her fans. Apparently, there's a whole shrine in front of Catco. I'm certain I'm going to have to step over it when I go in."  
"Supergirl must feel awful." Kara sighed, guilt weighing down on her.  
"Why? She saved the pilot, she prevented the CatCopter from crashing into the ground, and Leslie is still alive. I put her in that helicopter. If anybody should feel guilty, it's me. Not that I do." Kara got a feeling that she did, something in the way that she made an excuse, very unlike Cat. "Okay, that's long enough. We've paid our respects, and I have a company to run. After you." Cat montiend her out, Kara turned her head and listened as the door closed letted Cat have some privacy with Leslie.  
"Get up off your ass, Willis. You and I both know that you're tougher than a bolt of lightning. Come on."

~{}~

Eliza put the turkey down on the table, it wasn't that perfect golden-brown and she frowned, "Kara, your oven's not the best. Would you mind giving it a quick five seconds or so?"

Kakra grinned as she heated the turkey with her laser-vision, it quickly had a nice golden-brown color. "Mmm. She comes in handy." Alex said joking with Winn.  
"I have to admit, the first time she did it I was a little worried. What if we were all eating radioactive turkey?"

They all laughed. "It's no worse than the microwave. We'll all live." Alex said, calmly. Everyone went silent, the tension evident.  
You're having a lot of fun, Alex. Let's get some food in you.  
"Yeah. Everything looks great. Oh, especially the pie."  
"Oh, yes."  
"That is the best pie in the galaxy. Or so I'm told."  
"So, before we eat, I thought it would be nice if we went around and shared what we were grateful for, or any other feelings that we might want to share with family and friends, so let's share." She glanced around, seeing Alex and Eliza lowkey glaring at each other, the bomb was ticking down and Kara had no idea how to diffuse it. "Okay, I'll go first, um I'm grateful for everyone here. My best friend in the entire world, my sister who's always had my back, and the woman who always treated me like a daughter."  
"Thank you, sweetie." Eliza said smiling at her. Kara down then looked at Alex.  
"Alex, do you wanna go next?"

"Nope." She said, taking a long chug from her wine glass, she had refilled it… _twice._  
"Winn, why don't you go?"

Winn stood up, "Yeah. Well, that's easy."  
Kara phone rang, "Oh, sorry guys, I'll turn it off. Oh, it's Ms. Grant. Um, sorry, sorry. I'll make it quick." Kara left the room and answered the phone. "Hello, Ms. Grant, how are you?"

"Get to the office now. And bring someone with computer superpowers and foo-" the line went dead, wow Ms. Grant hung up on her not even commenting on how long it took her to answer her phone.

"So, uh, Eliza, you are a scientist? That's cool."  
"A scientist is a general term, dear. I am a bio-engineer. Alex is in the same field. You know, I guess being a lab rat, it runs in the family."  
"There's something I have to tell you." Alex blurted out, the wine finally working its way to her brain.  
"Okay. Is everything alright?"

"When I was at Stanford, I was doing research in genetic engineering. And my work and connection to Kara, it came under scrutiny. And I was recruited by the government. I'm not just a doctor. I'm an operative for an organization called the DEO. We monitor alien life here on Earth. I work in the field with Kara. I mean, that is my job, Mom, I look out for her."  
"I would be happy to carve this, Eliza." Winn saiding, not wanting to be there.  
"Are you out of your mind?"

"Oh, here we go." Alex said, rolling her eyes.  
"Who wants green beans? Uh..." Winn said, scooting out his chair trying to get as far away as possible.

"How could you do this, Alexandra?"

"She called her 'Alexandra'. This is gonna get ugly." Winn muttered, then glanced to where Kara had disappeared, he hoped she coming out soon he couldn't take this much longer.  
"How could I do what? Devote my entire life to watching over Kara? Well, I don't know, maybe it's because it's what you've told me to do since I was 14 years old." Kara walked in, her phone in hand. She glanced at her sister then her mother and back again.  
"You lied to me for years."  
"Is that what you got from all of that? So, Kara risks her life to protect other people, and she is a hero."

"Ok.. um Winn, Cat just called and I think she needs us so…"

"Yes! Let's go." Winn got up quickly, eager to leave this very quickly escalating fight. They swiftly moved to the door, only stopping so they could get their coats on.  
"And yet, I do the same, and I'm in trouble? That is perfect."  
"You think your father would be proud of this? I will never win with you."  
Kara and Winn shut the door as the two started yelling louder.

~{}~

"What's the emergency?"

"Last minute conference call to London and Beijing and nothing is working. Not my computer, not my phone, not my backup phone. I got that call off to you and then, boom! Everything just died." Kara said, Winn was a little late, he was held up in traffic, she had offered to fly him over but he had said no. something about heights.  
"Maybe that's a sign you shouldn't work on Thanksgiving." Kara said, making her way to the computer and typing a few things in.

"I always work on Thanksgivings, thank you very much. I know it probably seems sad to you, but I love it. Carter is with his dad, my mother won't eat a flightless bird, and I am not pulled in by employees who need constant wet-nursing."  
"I think we need Winn's help."  
What's a 'Winn'?

"He's-He's the IT guy." Cat expression was one of no recognition. "Sits right across from me."

Winn ran in, out of breath. He stopped and panted before looking at the computer. "Woah." he said as the screens lit up with Leslie's face.  
"Gobble, gobble. Miss me?"

"Leslie?" all three people said at once.

"No. Leslie Willis is dead. D-E-A-D. Dead. She died in that CatCopter of yours. This is Leslie 2.0. Livewire. And you and I... We're gonna have words."  
"My God, Leslie." Cat said as Leslie took form and shot electricity at them. They ducked and ran out of the office and sheltered behind a few desks.  
Winn whispered, "She was in a coma."  
"Yeah."  
"Clearly, she's recovered." Cat snapped at Winn.  
"Ms. Grant, we have to get help." Kara said as another bolt from Leslie forced them back into an office.  
"Yes. Yes. Security." Winn said.  
"Security is 20 floors down. Go, go. I'll keep her busy."  
"But-"

"No, 20 floors down. Go, go." Cat shooed the two employees away towards the stairs. Kara changed and Winn turned his back still not comfortable no matter how fast she was.

Kara flew through the window and knocked Leslie down, she about to kill Cat. They both grunted as they fought. "You don't have to do this. Let me help you."  
Leslie scoffed and shot her with a bolt, sending Kara flying backwards. "I'm good as is."  
"You need to get out of here." Kara said to Cat who was watching the whole thing from behind the front desk. "Go!"

Kara distracted Leslie by shooting her with laser vision but instead of her flying back, Leslie seemed to get bigger. "Oh, crap." Cat ran to her elevator and quickly closed the doors.  
"Thanks. I was feeling a little depleted." she said as she sent kara flying again. "Oh, Supergirl Poor Cat's stock is plummeting." she let out an evil laugh as she pointed to the elevator. Kara flew down the shaft and caught the elevator right as it nearly hit the ground floor.  
"You're safe now, Ms. Grant." Kara said bending the metal to get Cat out.  
"Oh, thank you."

~{}~

"Are you sure this was Leslie Willis?" Hank said as Kara informed him what happened, she had changed into her regular clothes, and was now allowing him around the mess of an office.

"She calls herself Livewire now. But how did this happen to her? Just because she was hit by lightning?"

"She didn't get hit by lightning. You did. You're Element X. Normal electrostatic discharge intensified as it passed through your Kryptonian DNA, picking up unknown properties. That's what's created her."  
"So it's my fault she's this way?"

"Talk to me about her powers. She siphons off energy?"

"She sucked up my heat-vision. It's like she is energy. She becomes energy."  
"But when she's not energy, she has a physical form you can punch?" Kara nodded.

"Yes."  
"Then we can fight her, Ms. Danvers."  
"How?"

"Excuse me? Agent Mulder, is it?" Cat said, coming up to Hank, looking better than being nearly killed should look like.

"Munroe, Ms. Grant."  
"Well, your agents are destroying my building more than Leslie did. I'm assuming the FBI is going to reimburse me for all the damage they're doing?"

"We wouldn't be doing any damage if you'd allowed us to relocate you to a secure location."  
"I didn't get where I am by running and hiding from a fight. Tomorrow is Black Friday, and Catco will be open for business."

Both Cat and Hank left, needing to discuss what had happened. Kara turned around and looked for Winn. she quickly spotted him and walked over.

"Hey Winn, are you okay?" she said, noting the cut on his forehead, something none of them had noticed in the chaos.

"Oh" he said, tapping his forehead and wincing.

"Here." Kara handed him a tissue from the desk closest to them.

He smiled weakly, "It's better then a fight between your sister and mother."

Kara rummaged through her bag and brought out a band-aid. Winn tried putting it on himself but ended up smearing blood around.

"Here, let me." she said smiling as she placed the band-aid on the cut. "You know, you should be more careful."

"Yeah, but what's the fun in that?" Winn said as she smoothed it over. She wet down a tissue with some water from a bottle in her bag. She wiped up the blood.

"There. All better." She said, smiling at Winn.

"Thank you." Winn said. They stood a little close and neither moved away. They stood in awkwardness before Cat voice cut through their small bubble.

"Keira!" Both winced.

"I should go." Kara said, getting her bag and walking into her bosses office. She sighed, everything had to have the worst timing.

"Can I help?"

"Kara."  
"Do you need something, Ms. Grant?" Kara repeated herself, a little louder.

"Yes. My life back. Barring that, there's no reason for you to stay here. No reason for us both to be miserable."  
"No, I don't mind. And I don't really feel comfortable leaving you here alone with Livewire on the loose."

"You? You're useless. And I'm sure you're eager to get back to your family."  
"Not particularly. Uh Me and my sister and my foster mom got in a really big fight earlier."  
"You have a foster mother? That's mildly intriguing."  
"Yeah. Uh, well...Um...My parents passed away when I was thirteen, in, um, a fire."  
"Oh I'm I'm sorry."  
"Uh, no. It's fine. I mean, it hurts. But I still feel close with them. And my foster mom, Eliza, she's great with me. It's just her and Alex-well, mothers and daughters, it's hard. Yours must be so proud of you."

Cat chuckled, "Well, if she is, it's on some subterranean level. In her mind, I have never lived up to my potential."  
You're the queen of all media.  
Ah! Yes. An accomplishment that never mattered to her. Oh, don't get me wrong. I am entirely grateful. Everything I am, everything I have, is because of her constant "pushing," let's call it. She was never satisfied with me, and so I've never satisfied with myself. Which is why I keep pushing, too. Myself, and all the people I care about. Pushing Supergirl. I should have pushed Leslie. Held her to a higher standard. The more awful she was, the more I rewarded her. Leslie turning into Livewire, that started a long time ago. It's my fault. I turned her into a monster. I need to fix this. I need to talk to Supergirl. Surely the FBI has a direct line to her."

"I'll ask him. Uh, and also, um I think I will go home." Kara said as she backed out of the office.  
"Mmm-hmm." Cat said, lost in thought.

~{}~

Kara landed on the balcony, wind whooshing around her, alerting Cat to Supergirl's arrival. "Hello, Ms. Grant."  
"You know, if you would just give me your cell phone number, I wouldn't have to do so much back-channeling." Cat earned a glare from Kara. "Now, you want to catch Livewire, so do I. I can draw her out, but then we'll have to work together. What do you say? Partners?"

Kara grinned at that, the Queen of All Media and a Kryptonian working together to stop a superpowered villain. It sounded like a comic book stories.

~{}~

"Lightning in a bottle."  
"Or, technically, lightning in a portable industrial capacitor. Get it underneath her, spring it open and close it. The electricity running through will be drawn inside." Alex explained. "She'll be temporarily broken down on the atomic level, at least until we can get her into permanent containment."  
"Cool, it's like Ghostbusters." Kara said grinning, Hank scowled at her not liking her joke.  
"Sounds like a plan."  
"You gonna tell us where you're going? This is between me, Ms.  
Grant and Livewire.  
"Based on the amount of power she's consumed, there is a very real chance that she's gonna be strong enough-"

"She can hurt me. I know."  
"Kara. She can kill you."

"It's always worth it to risk my life for others. I'll see you soon." Kara said, leaving.

~{}~

The radio station was quiet, Cat had scared the crew away with a single glance. "Citizens of National City, this is Cat Grant, broadcasting live from Catco Plaza, which despite a vicious attack yesterday, is still open for business. This message is for the person behind that attack. Leslie, if you are hearing this, your grudge is with me, not National City, so let's not see if we can't come to an agreement. Let's meet… where it all began, as they say. I'm not one to look back, but it just feels right this time." Cat turned the broadcast off, Supergirl following her outside.

As Supergirl flew after Cat's car, they stopped in front of a broke-down old radio station. Kara stayed in the air, wanting to have the element of surprise on didn't have to wait long, the street lights broke, the electricity from Livewire burning them out.  
Come on, Leslie.  
"Where's your bodyguard?" Leslie asked, she looked around expecting Supergirl.

"I didn't think she was necessary."

"Oh, sucks. I really wanted one of you to watch the other one die." Leslie grinned, her eyes black with excitement.  
"Oh, Leslie, you and I got through you not supporting Hillary in 2008, we can get through this. Just give me your terms."  
"The only thing that you have that I want is your skin. And there are so many ways to skin a-"

"A cat, yes." Cat rolled her eyes. " Congratulations, you have the wit of a YouTube comment.  
Are we going to talk or not?"

"Not." She said, raising her hands. Kara knew it was time to intervene.  
"Leslie!"

"Your 15 minutes are up, you boring, weak-"

"Oh, shut up, you mean girl." Kara interrupted Leslie, she flew and she barreled into Leslie who she simply phased through.

Kara grunted as she was hit with a bolt of electricity, she hit the ground. Unable to move in complete agony. She reached for the device to trap Leslie but it was hit with a bolt and turned into to a lump of charred metal and plastic.  
"Nice try." Kara tried getting up but Leslie hit her again with another bolt, this time keeping it on Kara. Kara groaned. "I wonder if I have enough power to stop your heart." leslie hit her with an extra bolt of electricity sending Kara scrawled on the ground.  
"Leslie! Leslie, don't do this!" Kara heard Cat say, she had to give her credit, Cat didn't seemed too scared. Kara grunted and her head hit the pavement, Kara heard water running underneath the asphalt. "You're better than this." Cat continued. "You are Leslie Willis."  
"If it makes you feel better I'll always give you credit for giving me my start." Leslie said, turning her head to look at Cat.  
"And finishing you off." Kara said, using her super strength to grab and pull up the pipe, the water sprayed Leslie who screamed as the water hit her. She fell on the ground, unconscious with a few bolts of electricity flying off her hands.  
"Water and electricity, never a good match."

Cat turned her head to the woman on the ground, soaking wet and half-dead. "You know that reminds me of the scene in The Wizard of Oz when Dorothy splashes the witch and she starts to melt."  
"Thanks for your help." Kara said with a small chuckle.  
"Oh, you're welcome, Supergirl." Cat said as Kara flew up into the sky, grabbing Leslie and dropping her off at the police station with a strong reminder to keep her in contact with water.

~{}~

"Okay." Kara said, putting down several containers of food. Winn looked up at her "Turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, sweet potato, and three slices of pie. Payment in full for putting up with my crazy family... and Livewire. Thanks."  
They both laugh, Winn was looking better, his cut was almost hidden beneath a superman band-aid. "Oh, yeah. Hey, um…" Winn started to stammer, "So, I didn't get to tell you what I was thankful for."

"Well, you were in the middle of a war zone." Kara smiled at Winn, who gave a small smile back.  
"My dad's in prison." he said, both of their smiles disappearing.  
"Winn, I'm so sorry."  
"Don't be sorry. He's a pretty bad person and he deserves to be there." his eyes looked haunted for a second before being covered up with smile. "Uh, anyways, so my family doesn't really do holidays. So, I mean, even with all the nuttiness of yours, I'm just grateful to have been included… What I'm grateful for is you." Winn said. He slowly moved in giving Kara a kiss on the cheek.

Kara's heart pounded in her chest, her brain froze over. She stammered for a second, searching WInn eyes deeply. Her breath quickened as she moved forward…

"KEIRA!" Cat's loud call interrupted their moment and they both took a step back.

"I-I-I better go." Kara said, as they both chuckled, the moment over and replaced with an awkward silence between the two friends. She walked away after gazing into her friend's eyes for a few seconds, she wished she had her sister's skill of knowing what people were thinking. KAra felt Winn's eyes on her as she walked away.  
As Kara walked into her boss' office, her cheek's were an unmistakable shade of red.  
"The photo department's been calling. About the paparazzi shots from over the weekend of the young stars and starlets, compromised in assorted humiliating ways. Monday morning tradition."  
"Mmm-hmm." Kara said, her thoughts elsewhere.

"Which one would you pick?" Kara looked up, Cat never asked her for her opinion. "The 20-year-old singer who face-planted in front of Club Apocalypse because she had too much to drink? Or the closeted teen heartthrob who was caught slipping out of National City's randiest gay bar?"

"Wait, who's-" Kara asked, she always liked being told gossip but she never told anything

"Let's run...Mmm. Neither." Kara was shocked, did facing Leslie change Cat's heart of steel into flesh? "The world is full of so much noise and snark, much of it we generate. Today, why don't we elevate this city's level of discourse instead with a photo essay of all the people who spent their holidays volunteering at soup kitchens and shelters. Let's not see if we can't bring some attention to those organizations.  
"I think that's a great idea."  
"Well, of course you do, I pitched it." there's the old Cat. "Thanksgiving sells. Liberals love to feel guilty, so let's just squeeze as much juice out of those turkeys as we can."  
And Kara What you told me about your parents dying... There's a lot I don't know about you. But there is one thing I do know, whatever is going with you and Wit… embrace it." Kara looked up at her boss, her eyes wide and her mouth open.

"Wha-ho.. I-I-" Kara stuttered.

"Kara, I'm not blind, plus I have thing for office romances. Why do you think I have an IT sitting in front of my office? Or hired Lucy Lane?" Kara didn't reply, Cat rolled her eyes. "Pu-leaze. If you need it, I will make you go on a date."  
"It's fine, Ms. Grant." Kara said, she didn't need to have Cat to help her out in her relationships.  
"Now, you know enough about me to know that I need my three "L's," my latte hot, my lettuce-wrapped crisp and my Lexapro, stat. And not necessarily in that order." Kara froze for a second, trying to process what just happened in the span of a few minutes. "Chop, chop."

~{}~

"Even I am finding this grip impressive." Eliza said as Alex hugged her mother. They had bonded over something when Kara was away fighting Leslie.  
"I am so proud of you."  
"Thank you."  
"Oh, guys, this is so nice." Kara said, her eyes squinting at the pair. They made up! It was a miracle!  
"I'm proud of you too, Supergirl, but from what I see on the news, there is room for improvement."  
"Wow! That was not an unqualified compliment, which is progress for us, but not fun for me."  
"Well, this is the best day of my life." She chuckled but then her smile disappeared. "I haven't been fair. I have put a lot on both of you. But there is something I need to tell you. Something I promised your father I wouldn't, but if you're gonna be working for the DEO you need to know. Your dad wasn't just a doctor either and he did not die in a plane crash. That is what they told me, but I don't trust them."  
"Mom, what are you talking about?" Alex said, processing what her mother was saying.

"I've known about the DEO for a long time. I know what they do. They wanted to take Kara away and do _experiments_ on her but your dad stopped them by working for them instead." Ezlia spat out the last sentence, her expression bitter. "Jeremiah died working for the DEO. He died working for a man named Hank Henshaw."

Kara and Alex looked at each other. Alex shook her head, "No, Hank is a good man-"

"And yet Hank wanted to kill you Kara. he wanted to lock you away and turn you into a show of all of humanity. Girls, _never_ ever trust that man. Promise me."

"We promise." they said, after they shared a long look with their mother.

~{}~

"Good job with Livewire, Supergirl. The DEO has its first non-alien prisoner. And now the holidays are over and you've had your fun, perhaps you can get back to your actual job. Catching aliens." Hank said to the pair as they walked into the DEO base.  
"Yes, sir."  
"That's it? No comeback?"

"No, sir, just ready to work."  
"All right." Hank nodded at the two then walked away.  
"We have to find out what happened to my dad."

"I thought we were clicking." Kara said, miserably.


	5. Chapter 5

This chapter is filled with Kara sass (mainly towards Winn), it started out at flirting but I am not very good at it. Hope you like! Please review!

Also last chapter I made a mistake (won't point it out) sorry!

Chapter 5

Juggling with Two Worlds

Kara was flying across the city, a crazy grin on her face. Crime rates were way down, not even a shoplifter dare to anything with Supergirl flying over them. No bad guys or aliens or alien bad guys. She thought too soon, a drone circled her from above, scanning her. She flew quickly to it and quickly caught it, breaking it in half.

"Thought I'd return this to you. I thought we were clicking."  
"Okay." Hank said not following what she was talking about.

"People who click don't spy on each other! I don't like being followed."  
"If I were following you, Ms. Danvers, you would never know about it. This is…" Hank picked up the piece of drone "Not one of ours."  
"Then whose is it?"

"There's no markings." Alex said, after Hank handed the ruined drone to her.  
"I've never seen tech like this before-Alien origin? Could be your aunt, Astra."  
"No, it's definitely from Earth, but it is incredibly advanced."  
"Yeah, no kidding. That thing was like trying to swat a fly in a tornado."

"If someone is targeting one of my assets, I want to know who it is. We'll handle this."  
"You can trust him, Kara."  
"I hope you're right."

~{}~

Winn was covering the phones when Kara was crime-fighting, or at least trying to. "Please don't yell at me, this isn't my job." he said as he slammed down the phone, only to have it ring the second he put it down. He reached for the phone again but Kara snuck up behind him and quickly answered the phone.  
"Cat Grant's office, this is Kara."  
"Please, do not make me cover phones for you ever again." Winn said, spinning around in her chair to face Kara, his face haunted, no doubt someone had said something to him he did not want to hear, probably Cat's newest boyfriend, thinking Cat had answered it. Kara mouth 'sorry' at him.  
"She did? That's amazing! Yeah-Yes-Yes, I will get right back to you." Kara placed down the phone and grinned at Winn "Ms. Grant won the Siegel Prize for Women in Media!"

"Oh, yeah, she already knows. I didn't know that she could smile if it wasn't based on cruelty to others."  
"The ceremony is in Metropolis tomorrow night. I better book a plane right away."  
She walked into Cat's office, Cat spun around as she ended the phone call. "Keira! Oh!"

"Yes?"  
"Get me a salad for lunch. I don't care what kind as long as it has a cheeseburger on top."  
"And, may I say, Ms. Grant, congratulations! The Siegel Prize, that's huge."  
"I hope not, considering they're going to have to mail it to me. I won't be attending the ceremony."  
"But this is the first year you beat Lois Lane."

"And as much as I would love to rub it in her annoyingly freckled button nose, I don't have anyone to watch Carter."  
"Did you fire another nanny?"

"No. Ella broke her leg storing my summer sandals."  
"And your mom?"

"She is living down to my expectations by prioritizing her career over my own. Does your mother give a damn about your career?"

"Um, well, she's not really around-" Kara said, her mother was dead along with her whole world.

"Oh, salad. Burger, rare. Go." Cat snapped her finger toward the door.  
"If you wanted, I could watch Carter overnight."

"What do you want?"

"You know how sometimes people just want to help other people?"

"Oh, I see. So, you think that if you do me this favor, that I will owe you something. Well, this is the first time I've ever seen this quality in you, Keira. I love it. I didn't know you had it in you."  
"This award is important to you. So, it's important to me."  
"Maybe you will get that promotion someday. My son, uh, Carter, He, um, well, he's not a normal boy, thank God. He's clever and curious, and like most gifted children, he can be shy and reserved. He needs special attention."  
"Oh, do not worry, Ms. Grant. He wouldn't be safer with Supergirl."

"Oh, now, it's just annoying." she shooed Kara out.

Winn was sitting at his own desk. "You know your chair is a lot more comfortable than mine.

"We have the same chair."

"Really? I didn't really notice." Winn said innocently.

"Fine you can have my chair." Kara said after they had a brief staring contest.

"Yes!" he said, switching his chair for her's.

"It smells like Red Vines." Kara said as she sat down.

"Hey, it gives it culture. No take-backs." he said as she got up.

"Fine I'll just take this _cultural_ chair." she said, she didn't mind the smell, she actually kind of liked it, but it made her hungry. Suddenly the whole building skook.

"Earthquake?" Winn asked.

"No, a bomb." She said as she races to the elevator. She pressed to the button to the roof and stepped out. She jumped up and flew to where she could hear screams coming from. A building was collapsing, it's main support beam had been the center of the bomb. Kara groaned as she took the brunt of the weight of the building, she fixed the metal beam, welding it to the building. She slowly put back the weight on it, as the people in and around the building cheered her on.

~{}~

"You were supporting the weight of 120 pounds per square foot, multiplied by five floors. Not bad." Hank said when Kara has flown to the DEO.  
"Why would someone plant a bomb in that building? What was in there?"

"A lab developing a new, non-lithium battery. Cutting edge. Could be industrial espionage. This might be one to let the FBI handle."  
"I don't think we want to do that, sir. These are fragments from the bomb. I found the exact same technology inside the drone Kara brought in yesterday." Alex said, coming up behind Kara.  
"So whoever was spying on me was also behind the bombing?"

"Yes. And I think I may have a lead." Alex swiping the screen on the tablet in her hand, the screen above them changing to a photo of a well known billionaire.  
"Maxwell Lord?" Kara said disbelieving.

"Yeah. Both the bomb and the drone used an advanced fiber optics relay system. It's not even on the market yet. And it was developed by Lord Technologies."

"Let's pay Maxwell Lord a visit."  
"How? You can't just walk in as DEO agents."  
"We won't." Hank said walking off, like always.  
"I have to get back to work."  
"And, by 'work,' do you mean Winn?"

"No. I have to babysit Cat Grant's son. But yes, we do sit next to each other but I am just his friend right now-"  
"No. don't say that That is a first-class one-way ticket to the Friend Zone."  
"I am not in the Friend Zone."  
"You've spent more time in the Friend Zone than the Phantom Zone. Okay? You're that girl. You always want to help, so you listen to their girlfriend troubles-"

"Instead of being the girlfriend. Right."

"Kara, you've had to pretend to be someone else for most of your life. But you don't have to hide with Winn. He knows your secret and he likes you. Besides, what kind of idiot would choose _not_ to have Supergirl as their girlfriend?"

Kara phone rang and she answered it. "Hello? Oh! Hi, Ms. Grant."

"How's Carter? Does he miss his mom?"

"Oh my God! Carter! I was supposed to pick him up!" Kara said, covering the phone with her hand.

"You need to park in the green zone and walk to the line-up, or you need to idle in the yellow zone and put the placard in the... What's that noise?" Kara was speeding across the sky, racing to pick up her boss' son.

"I've got the windows open!"

"Wait, are you trying to tell me that you're not there yet?"

Pulling up right now.  
I did not hear the sound of children at play.  
"It's just super windy! Gotta go!"

"Hey! Ms. Grant put my name on the list. Its Kara Danvers." Kara said to the monitor who was looking over the kids.

"Yeah, I just need a signature. Yes. Thanks, he's all yours. Have fun, Carter." the woman smiled at Carter then turned to another parent.  
"Hey, I'm Kara. You remember me from your mom's office? You've grown since I last saw you. So, how was school?" kara paused waiting for Him to speak, which he didn't. "This is a really good school. I'm surprised they haven't taught you guys to speak out loud yet. I actually really liked school. Learning all about this new planet..That I am also from. Not that I was a nerd or anything."  
"My mom says it's okay to be a nerd. She says if you can face your fears and come out of your shell, then nerds can win in the end."  
"God, I hope so." Kara said as they walked to the car.

~{}~

" _Tonight, Maxwell Lord launches his super train on its maiden voyage, with this..."_

"You know, I didn't get my first cell phone until I was 16." Kara siad as she looked over Carter's shoulder.  
"True story. Are you sure there's nothing I can get you? A snack? A juice box? Anything that will make you happy-"

"Supergirl!" Carter said as the latest news report on her appeared on the screen

"Oh."

"No one can beat Supergirl."  
"Oh, you like Supergirl?"

"She's so cool. Last week, she stopped Reactron. Superman never did that. And earlier she caught an entire building. And she can shoot lasers out of her eyes."

"Wow, she does sound pretty cool."  
"I didn't say she was pretty.  
"I didn't say you said she was pretty. Why? Do you think she's pretty?"

"Well, I guess. I don't know."  
"Carter, do you maybe have a little crush on Supergirl?"

"You got good taste, kid." Winn said as he came up to them.  
"This is my friend Winn." Kara said introducing Winn to Carter.  
"You're Supergirl fan, huh?" Winn leaned in and whispered to the 2 of them, "You know I know her."  
"No, you don't." Carter said disbelieve in his voice.  
"Oh, really?" Kara crossed her arms at Winn, who started stammering when he saw the look on her face, she didn't help him, he dug the hole himself.  
"I mean, like I feel like I know her."  
"Mmm-hmm."  
"Because she's always there for people. You know, she's helping out. Saving those who need saving."  
"Yeah."  
Uh, especially those who, um, have run out of staples.  
Whoa! Whoa, whoa, whoa Got it.  
Uh, the stapler is not our enemy.  
Layout can't find the copy I sent down two hours ago.  
Because I I forgot to send it, I'm so sorry.  
And I just broke the stapler.  
"Plus, Digital's now inundated because of the bombing story, I...How does Cat do it?"

"She's Ms. Grant. And she has you."

"Well, so do you. Yeah. So, I will coordinate with Digital and make sure Finance is in the loop." She said as she walked out.  
"That guy knows Superman, right?" Carter asked her as she walked to her desk

"Yes, he does."  
"Do you think he could get Superman to introduce me to Supergirl?"

Kara grinned, "You are definitely your mother's son." her phone rang  
"Yeah, what's up?"

"I am at Lord Tech with a bomb that is gonna go off in a minute." her sister's voice said.  
"On my way." Kara turned back to the teenager sitting at her desk, "Carter, um- I have an emergency errand to run."  
"I need you to watch Ms. Grant's son."  
"Whoa! Like, really? 'Cause I am not good with kids."  
"You eat cereal for dinner, and your desk is covered with toys, and your chair smells like a county fair."  
"They are not toys. They are adult collectibles." He turned to he desk picking up an 'adult collectible', he turned back to see Kara had already left, "Yeah, okay. Yeah, I got it."

~{}~

"Supergirl. Thank God you're here."

"Not a problem. Plenty of time."  
"This bomb is like a high-tech daisy cutter. If it blows, it'll produce an overpressure of 2,000 pounds per square inch. That'll level 30 square blocks. You need to get it clear of the city." they didn't need to say anything more, Kara picked up the bomb and flew to the ocean, she went fast, she broke the sound barrier, she winced as she saw a few panes of glass break. 15 seconds left.  
"Supergirl, change bearing." Hank said in her ear as always.  
"Which way?" 9 seconds left.

"Up! Throw the bomb!" 5 seconds left.

"Not yet! I have to get higher!" 4 seconds left.

"You're out of time. Throw it! Now!" 3 second left

Kara yelled, throwing the bomb. 2 seconds left.

The bomb exploded and Kara panted, staying still for awhile before heading toward the DEO.

~{}~

"We got a shot of the bomber from the security cameras at Max's lab. Facial recognition came up with a match. His name is Ethan Knox. Worked at the first lab that was attacked. He was fired six months ago when his work became erratic. His family reported him missing two weeks ago."  
"So, how do we find him?"

"'We?' No. You have to babysit. You are staying home."  
"There is a literal mad bomber out there! And I have get back to work. Oh, my God, Ms. Grant's son... I've to get back to the office. I'm supposed to be babysitting him!" she said, hearing what her sister was trying say.

"Kara, maybe you're spreading yourself too thin. You're trying to be Supergirl and Cat's assistant and a DEO agent on top of it all. At some point, even the Girl of Steel might break."  
"Yeah, tell me something I don't know." She muttered.

Carter and Win sat in front of Cat's wall of TVs and tablets, "I never knew my mom's office could be this awesome!" they were played a video game, Winn was only just winning (pun).

"Oh, man, I do this all the..Never. No, I've-I've never done this before." Winn saw Kara out of the corner of her eye, "Kara!"

"Carter, are you alright? I'm so sorry I was gone."  
"We're good."  
"Hi."  
"Are you hungry for some real food? I'm gonna get some lunch. Thank you for watching him. I don't know what I would do without you." Kara quickly ran out.  
"Winn, you're getting killed!" Carter called Winn.

"Every day, kid."

~{}~

"Kara, right?" Kara was standing in line waiting for her order to come in, she whipped around to see James' girlfriend.

"Yes, hey!"

"Lucy Lane." She said, Kara and her shaking hands.  
"Yes, you are. You must really like the food here."  
"Well, I left my phone here yesterday. I've been a little frazzled."  
"You? Uh, you do not seem like the kind of person who gets frazzled."  
"Just because I look a certain way on the outside, everyone assumes it matches the way I feel on the inside."  
"Yeah, I get that."  
"I wish Jimmy would."  
"Right." her order came in, "Right, um… Well, my milkshake's are getting milkier, I should probably get going."  
"Hey, Kara, can I ask you a question? It's awkward and I kind of don't want to hear the answer, but.. Is Jimmy seeing anyone?"

"What? No. No, he just moved here."  
What about Supergirl? - Supergirl? - I saw the news.  
Jimmy by her side.  
Fighting Reactron.  
I'm just worried he's gonna find her..Irresistible.  
"No." Kara laughed, "Really?"

"Jimmy thinks my work came between us, but he's wrong. Maybe I should've appreciated him more, but the reason I prioritize work, is because he prioritized him. Superman. No matter where we were or what we were doing, Jimmy took off the moment Superman called. And I couldn't complain, because of course they were off saving people's lives. He says I left him, but he left us first."  
"Lucy, I'm so sorry."  
"And this hero wears a skirt. How am I ever gonna compete with her?"

"Trust me, Supergirl doesn't even want to have anything with him."

~{}~

Kara came back with 3 milkshakes and 2 hamburgers plus a box of pot stickers.

"Hey guys. If Ms. Grant comes back and sees this, she will literally fire us both, Winn." she handed him a hamburger then his milkshake. Winn took a bite then a gulp of the milkshake.

"Can't talk right now." He said, giving the game his full attention.

Kara was about to hand Carter his milkshake but she couldn't see him. "Winn? Where's Carter?"

"He went to the bathroom…" Winn paused the game then looked up at Kara, "please don't yell at me but… he left for the bathroom half an hour ago."

Kara wasn't mad, she was scared, of losing her job, of her boss. _Crap._  
That when it clicked, "He's on the train… he wants to see Supergirl."  
"Scanning the train. I don't see the bomb nor Carter." Kara said, Winn was in her earpiece on the ground.

"I do.." Winn said gravelly. "He's on the train… with the bomber."  
"Supergirl, there's a bomb at the Lord Air terminal." Hank cut in.  
"Alex, did you hear all that?"

"We did."  
"What do you want to do? I can't be in two places at once!"

"We have visual confirmation at the airport. We can't even be sure what your friend saw was accurate."  
"My freind has a name, Winn. I trust Winn, just like I trust you. So new plan. You take the airport, I've got the train."  
Kara landed on the train, Maxwell Lord smriked, "I'm starting to think you have a thing for me."  
"Ethan Knox is on board."  
\- No. That's impossible."

"You have to stop this train."  
"I can't. It's automated."  
"Something's wrong, isn't it?" Carter looked up at the two people,

"There is a problem, but I'm here to fix it. You look brave and strong, can you help me?" Carter nodded, "Good.  
I need you and Mr. Lord to get all of these passengers to the very back of the train. Are you ready to be a hero?"

"Yes."  
"This bomb is rigged with altimeter. You try to move me off the train, it goes off instantly." Ethan moved back as Kara moved closer to him.  
"Ethan, I want to help you. But you've got to deactivate that first."  
"There's no way out for me.  
"There's always hope. I know you're upset, but think about your daughter. Ethan, don't do this.  
"You don't understand. You can't."  
"I understand what it feels like to be overwhelmed. But you are not alone. I can help you." Kara took a step forward.  
"Stay back!"

"I know your daughter's sick. She needs you. Don't you want to help her?"

"That's what this is all about. It's her only hope."  
"What do you mean?" Kara said, confused.

"It doesn't matter anymore...No one was supposed to know it was me, and now that they do, I'll I can never face my little girl again."  
"Ethan Please, do not kill all of those people.  
"I won't. You'll save them." He pressed a button, "But you better hurry, you have 30 seconds."

Kara melted the link between the two cars, his speeding ahead and Kara jumped in front of the train, she grunted as she used her body as a stopper. The train slowed to a stop as the car far ahead blew up.

~{}~

"Hey, would you hand me that Allen wrench?" Alex asked her sister who used her hand instead, to take off the plate of the fake bomb, "That works, too. Okay, that is weird. Hank said that this was a dud. A decoy to draw us away from the real bomb, but that is a kill switch used to disable it remotely. Why would you put a fail safe on a fake bomb?"

"Yeah, that's not the only thing that doesn't add up. Knox killing himself makes no sense."  
"Well, crazy guy snaps, gets even crazier?"

"Well, he didn't seem crazy, he seemed sad. He said he loved his daughter, he was doing it for her, but how do these bombings help a sick girl?

"Who knows? Parents can go nuts when it comes to their kids." Alex shrugged.  
"How do you think a parent would feel if their kid ended up on that train, by himself, with a bomb on it?" Kara looked up at her sister, suddenly remembering Carter.

"Oh, Kara, I'm so sorry."  
"I'm so fired!" Kara said as she ran out.

~{}~

"Mom!" Carter Yelled as Cat ran out of the elevator.

"Honey! Oh, my gosh! Oh, my gosh! I was so worried." Cat hugged her son. "Are you okay? Are you okay? Were you scared? Did you get hurt?" Cat pestered her son with questions.

"I met Supergirl! She was amazing. And she's so much prettier in person."  
"Oh. Well did you notice any of her other attributes?"

"Um, she's super strong.."

"And smart and brave and kind and she saved you all. Tell me, what do you think makes her a hero?"

Carter thought for a second, "I'd say her legs. Definitely her legs." Cat blinked at him as Kara let out a soft chuckle, "Her heart, Mom."  
"Oh! That was a joke. That was a joke. Carter, you made a joke. You never make a joke. School! School, you have to go to school. You're gonna be late. The car is downstairs waiting for you. Did you brush your teeth?"

"Bye, buddy! It was fun hanging out with you." Kara called as he walked toward the elevator.  
"Bye, Kara. Oh! Oh! Mom, Kara and I had an epic Nerf gun battle…"

"Yeah, we did."  
"And she knows how to play Settlers of Catan almost as well as you do."  
"Oh." was Cat's only response. -

"Can she watch me again?"

"I think you should hold to those happy memories, sweetheart. I love you. Have a good day at school. Go on." Cat shooed her son away, then turned to Kara.  
"Bye! Ms. Grant, I am so, so sorry. Suddenly, I looked up and he was, he was just gone."

"I never should've let you take him in the first place." Cat walked into her office Kara following suit.  
"It was very hard. Really, really very hard. There was work, and watching Carter, and then all the crazy stuff happening around the city... I-I just don't know how you do it, Ms. Grant. I don't understand how you juggle it all."  
"Oh, Keira. You have just stumbled upon the most annoying question of the century, and you are so young that you do not even realize it: How do you juggle it all? You learn, that's how. You start with two balls before adding another. I figured out how to be brilliant in business and then I added being a brilliant mother. Far too many women burn out trying to do too much before they're ready."  
"So you can have it all?"

"Of course. Just not all at once, and not right away." Cat pointed to Kara's messy hair, "And not with that hair. Use conditioner, for God's sake."

~{}~

"And we bring you Maxwell Lord's response to the incident."  
"Yes, the bomber did work for my company, and we did fire him, but we never anticipated he would react this way. I try to build in fail-safes for every situation." _Fail-safe?_ "But in the end, you can't control people. And I take full responsibility for that."  
"Why is he getting so choked up about some lunatic who's trying to kill him?" Winn said, glanced at Kara before looking back up at the TV.

"Because I don't think we know the whole story. Can you hack into hospital records?"

"Easy-peasy, fresh and squeezy…" Kara gave Winn a puzzled look "Is not something a man would say."

~{}~

"What can I get you? Or are you not allowed to drink and fly? I don't know the rules."  
"Caught your press conference. I was surprised, you're usually a little more glib."

"There was nothing to be glib about. A sick little girl lost her father."  
"That little girl's being treated by a doctor who has a lifetime grant from your company. You said, tonight, you always build in fail-safes. Like the kill switches in those bombs. Something tells me that there was a fail-safe in Knox's bomb, too. One that you could've remotely activated if I didn't save you in time. You forced Knox to plant those bombs in exchange for saving his daughter's life."  
"I would never barter a child's life. I can't speak for Knox's motives. He clearly went insane."  
"Maybe you didn't expect Knox to vaporize himself, but I do know this was all a ruse. I just can't figure out why you did it."  
"Fascinating theory. Unprovable, but worth exploring. I suspect that whoever is responsible for these attacks might be curious about you, Supergirl. What is she made of? How does she do it?"

"You were testing me."  
"And what would these tests have shown us? The drone would have measured your agility. The building explosion, your strength. The next bomb would've demonstrated your speed while also revealing you're not actually invincible. But the results of that last test are the most intriguing of all. You chose to save a hundred people on that train, instead of thousands at the airport. One might deduce that there was someone on that train that you cared about."  
"And finding that person is the key to revealing who you really are when you're not flying around wearing that 'S.'"

"For the record, I care about everyone. You may have fooled this city, but I know you were behind this. And I'm watching you. This isn't over."  
"Finally, something we can agree on." Kara was really starting to hate Lord.


End file.
